For marketers looking to find work in the recovering economic climate, the retail sector holds the promise of positions. Retailers are leading the way in regaining search ad spend and are poised to pave the way in mobile marketing initiatives.
According to Efficient Frontier’s Q2 2010 Search Engine Performance Report, the retail industry is leading recovery in search advertising. The sector demonstrated 38 percent year-over-year growth in paid search campaigns and 16 percent growth in search spend over Q1 2010.
Consumer response is driving this growth with impression volumes up 65 percent over the same period last year. Notably, the report fails to specify whether it measures just traditional internet ad views or if it also considers mobile impressions, but a recent study from MediaMind shows that the click-through and conversion rates for mobile display ads are steadily increasing and surpassing some traditional slots in other industries.
This may be the case for retail, as well, as nearly a quarter of retailers are rapidly expanding their mobile marketing efforts, according to a Forbes study. Marketing Profs reports that 47 percent of respondents to Forbes Retail Mobility Imperative survey claimed they wanted to get in the mobile markets fast to gain “first-mover advantage” among on-the-go customers.
Within the next year, 41 percent of retailers aim to use mobile advertising strategies, 40 percent aspire to create mobile websites and 44 percent hope to offer consumers mobile applications.
This means marketers looking to break into the retail sector should be ready to show off their mobile skills. The recent best-practice tips offered by the IAB may help professionals gain an edge in planning mobile campaigns.
