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Tim Peter Thinks

What Mobile Will Do to Your Sales in 2013

Mobile phone streetHere’s a quick thought for you about the importance of mobile going forward. Retail sales (seasonally adjusted) currently run around $1 trillion in the United States each quarter. E-commerce accounts for roughly 5%-6% of that total—with some strong variation by category—and grows about 12%-15% each year (again, with some significant variation by category).

Of that total, maybe 40% of all retail purchases were researched and influenced online prior to the purchase.

Except, now, every one of your customers carries the internet in her pocket everywhere she goes, every day. And mobile use continues to grow.

What do your customers do with mobile? Well, engage with their friends (social), find out what’s nearby (local) and, yes, shop.

Do you think customers carrying smartphones are going to reference it more than 40% of the time when considering a purchase?

The social, local, mobile web creates transparency. It reveals information you’ve long concealed—whether intentionally or not. It allows your customers to know as much about your products and services as your employees do. Maybe more.

Even more importantly, it lets them know exactly at the moment when they’re ready to buy.

Do a good job of exposing your value through a compelling brand story and watch your sales skyrocket. Or you could try the other approach… I just don’t recommend it.

I’m giving a Biznology webinar next week called “It’s All E-commerce” which looks at what the social, local, mobile web does to your business in more detail. Good seats are still available. Why not register today and find out more about the future of commerce, online and offline (as if there’s any such thing anymore).

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Tim Peter & Associates helps companies from startups to the Fortune 500 use the web to reach more customers, more effectively every day. Take a look and see how we can help you.

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Tim Peter is the founder and president of Tim Peter & Associates. You can learn more about our company's strategy and digital marketing consulting services here or about Tim here.

This Post Has 14 Comments

  1. I really enjoyed your post Tim. Very insightful and I couldn’t agree more about how critical mobile is going to be (indeed, already is) for capturing sales in today’s always connected environment. This is especially for businesses that cater to consumers on the run (e.g. stores, bars, restaurants, hospitality industry at large). The same could be true for service providers such as lawyers or tow truck operators as the need for one is not generally known until the very point you need then at which time the need is often critical. Combining social for recommendations, location for context and relevancy and anywhere, always on Internet access is a marketers utopia and critical for sales. The velocity and reach of information is moving at the speed of light and ubiquitous broadband mobile coupled with location aware devices are adding fuel to the ecommerce as of % of commerce acceleration. The only thing that one could foresee slowing down ecommerce growth would be a change in the inter state sales tax laws for online sales as the US seeks much needed sources of revenues over the next few months. Thanks for sharing.

  3. […] What Mobile Will Do To Your Sales In 2013 (Tim Peter)Retail sales currently run around $1 trillion in the U.S. each quarter (adjusted for seasonality). E-commerce accounts for roughly 5-6 percent of that total (with some strong variation by category) and grows about 12-15 percent each year. Of that total, maybe 40 percent of all retail purchases were researched and influenced online prior to the purchase. The social, local, mobile Web creates transparency. Even more importantly, it lets them know exactly at the moment when they’re ready to buy. Do a good job of exposing your value through a compelling brand story and watch your sales skyrocket.  […]

  4. […] What Mobile Will Do To Your Sales In 2013 (Tim Peter)Retail sales currently run around $ 1 trillion in the U.S. each quarter (adjusted for seasonality). E-commerce accounts for roughly 5-6 percent of that total (with some strong variation by category) and grows about 12-15 percent each year. Of that total, maybe 40 percent of all retail purchases were researched and influenced online prior to the purchase. The social, local, mobile Web creates transparency. Even more importantly, it lets them know exactly at the moment when they’re ready to buy. Do a good job of exposing your value through a compelling brand story and watch your sales skyrocket.  […]

  5. […] What Mobile Will Do To Your Sales In 2013 (Tim Peter)Retail sales currently run around $1 trillion in the U.S. each quarter (adjusted for seasonality). E-commerce accounts for roughly 5-6 percent of that total (with some strong variation by category) and grows about 12-15 percent each year. Of that total, maybe 40 percent of all retail purchases were researched and influenced online prior to the purchase. The social, local, mobile Web creates transparency. Even more importantly, it lets them know exactly at the moment when they’re ready to buy. Do a good job of exposing your value through a compelling brand story and watch your sales skyrocket.  […]

  6. […] What Mobile Will Do To Your Sales In 2013 (Tim Peter)Retail sales currently run around $1 trillion in the U.S. each quarter (adjusted for seasonality). E-commerce accounts for roughly 5-6 percent of that total (with some strong variation by category) and grows about 12-15 percent each year. Of that total, maybe 40 percent of all retail purchases were researched and influenced online prior to the purchase. The social, local, mobile Web creates transparency. Even more importantly, it lets them know exactly at the moment when they’re ready to buy. Do a good job of exposing your value through a compelling brand story and watch your sales skyrocket.  […]

  7. […] What Mobile Will Do Ta Yo Salez N' 2013 (Tim Peta)Retail zalez current run around $1 trillyun n' da U.S. each quarta (adjuste' fo'seasonalitee). E-commerce accountz fo'ro 5-6 percent uv dat total (wiff some strong variashun by category) an' growz about 12-15 percent each year. Uv dat total, maybe 40 percent uv all retail purchazez wuz researche' an' influence' online pria ta da purchase. Da social, local, mobile Web createz transparensee. Even moe important, it lez them know exact at da moment when day’a ready ta buy. Do a phat job uv exposn' yo value thro a compelln' brand story an' watch yo zalez skyrocket.  […]

  8. […] What Mobile Will Do To Your Sales In 2013 (Tim Peter) Retail sales currently run around $1 trillion in the U.S. each quarter (adjusted for seasonality). E-commerce accounts for roughly 5-6 percent of that total (with some strong variation by category) and grows about 12-15 percent each year. Of that total, maybe 40 percent of all retail purchases were researched and influenced online prior to the purchase. The social, local, mobile Web creates transparency. Even more importantly, it lets them know exactly at the moment when they’re ready to buy. Do a good job of exposing your value through a compelling brand story and watch your sales skyrocket. […]

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