What was the last purchase you made on your mobile device? Really?

Industry stats and trends fluctuate and are only as credible as their source. Yet, it would be a wasted effort to argue the point that there are several core trends developing and capable of sustained momentum which will change how we all shop.  Whether the last fixed phone line will terminate in 2015 or 2020, the point is people are abandoning fixed phone lines for their mobile device. We all want communications to follow us where-ever we go.  Whether we text a billion messages or some other huge number last year, the point is many people have found an alternative to talking on the phone – instead they are texting because of the control, expediency and spontaneity of the tool.  The personal efficiencies of texting have been embraced and leveraged to communicate in large scale, and still allows for texting to be fun and productive.

Regardless if retailers will double their mobile ad spend to $2B in 2010 or not, the point is retailers are finding value in investing in mobile and are migrating advertising dollars from broadband to where the traffic is:  wherever they want to be.  Whether or not smart phones are 20% or 40% of total handset penetration, the point is more hardware manufacturers are building more smart phones and more retailers are selling more smart phones.  The perfect storm of decreasing hardware costs, decreasing data subscription plans, expanding supply and exponential growth in usage and value will continue to fuel this self-fulfilling cycle to the point where mobile technology will be core and central to much of our communications and daily culture, beyond what we experience today.

So what does this all mean to the retailer, especially the automotive retailer?  It means being an early adopter is passé and forward thinking retailers need to have a mobile presence now. Think ‘websites’ five years ago. Mobile is the next frontier, right? It also means having your website built for a mobile world.  Tapping and increasing screen size will not work in a mobile environment where consumers have choices to view actual mobile developed sites. Translate:  lack of a mobile website = shoppers visit a website they can actually read and enjoy! These same trends also reflect a dealer’s need to carefully evaluate spending on features and advanced technologies that have yet to be proven on a larger scale, specifically mobile e-commerce.

Past behavior predicts future results, right?  If so, will your local market’s behavior change to accommodate technological advances or will they hold their ground with traditional means?

What was the last thing you did with your phone? I bet it wasn’t making a phone call.

Mobile Usage Q4 2009

You can’t go anywhere anymore and be immune from mobile technology. It’s not just the lives of who we know that are impacted. People are using their mobile devices for so much more than talking:  texting, browsing the Internet, sending photos, interacting on Facebook or posting on Twitter, downloading apps, and listening to music. A mobile device, or smart phone, could probably occupy our entire day with the plethora of applications to use!

Mobile is clearly changing the lives of people across the globe: whether introducing pricing and distribution efficiencies into agrarian societies where none existed, implementing new forms of commerce exchange where even national banking systems have failed, or enhancing communications and knowledge transfer onto a new medium.  And the impact of mobile technology is present and clear. 

I continue to be amazed as I see a constant presence of everyday people talking, reading, browsing and texting in airports, in stores, in hotels, on beaches, on planes, walking down a street, or when driving cars! There are no age demographics that remain untouched. It is almost robotic in behavior!

The ubiquitous of mobile communications is apparent and its growth curve remains impressive.  With more mobile phone plans than population and with more internet access included with each new plan, there is mounting evidence that the race for the central hardware device in our lives will be the smart phone, capable of completing the needed communicative tasks in one hand, weighing in under 5 ounces, and its preferred access to the Internet will be through a ‘browser’ viewed in a 1 square foot window. Amazing!

How does the migration from a traditional phone line and desktop computer to a mobile smart device effect how consumers find information, make purchases and share information?  More importantly, in our business, how do you anticipate mobile technologies affecting how shoppers find your dealership, want to buy a car or truck from you and create long term customer relationships?