The ‘rise of mobile’ has been a hot topic in online for years; however, at the start of 2012 it’s beginning to feel like mobile marketing has finally arrived as a channel worth shouting about both in terms of viability and, more importantly for the bottom line, profitability.
More and more consumers are using smartphones and mobile devices to access content. A whopping 42% of the UK mobile users now operate on a smart phone and 51% have browsed the internet on their mobile devices in the past week.
While 65% of mobile owners routinely use their mobile devices to find businesses for in-store purchases (Source: Google, 2011) a significant 13% of UK consumers have actually made a purchase via a mobile, with a further 19% having used their mobile to compare prices and look at product reviews while out shopping.
This shift in consumer behaviour is having a dramatic impact on the affiliate sector, which has proved in the past to be a perfect testing ground for more innovative advertising models.
With advertisers increasingly investing in viable mobile commerce sites, publishers are utilising the platform as another avenue for increasing revenue.
With this in mind, what steps should advertisers and publishers be taking to increase affiliate traffic and drive revenue through a mobile platform?