4 transformative shifts happening in the digital marketplace
In a recent ComScore report titled, “U.S. Digital Future in Focus 2014,” the editors there discussed the rapid evolution of the online marketplace. From mobile to social media to eCommerce, digital consumer behavior in 2013 was put under the microscope. In doing so, the researchers at ComScore were able to categorize the changes taking place into four categories. These categories, which ComScore dubbed as transformative shifts, are as follows:
Platform Shifts: Consumers are engaging with digital media across an increasing number of platforms, with mobile being the single most significant change in this landscape since the invention of the Internet. As digital platforms continue to emerge, media fragmentation will only accelerate, creating the defining marketing challenge of this era.
Content Shifts: People are rapidly changing the way they consume content as they shift from traditional media to digital media, requiring media companies to rethink the content experience and which formats – from both a media and advertising perspective – are best for engaging with consumers.
Demographic Shifts: Young people and Millennials play a critical role in leading shifts in consumer technology adoption and usage habits, in areas such as social media, mobile and video. Their behaviors today offer important insight into the future of digital media and an opportunity for marketers to get ahead of the curve.
Marketing Shifts: Marketing dollars are gradually following eyeballs to mobile platforms as mobile measurement and monetization emerge as important challenges to media industry economics. At the same time, new ad and campaign measurement capabilities are reducing waste, improving optimization, and ultimately driving better marketing ROI.
Additional takeaways from the ComScore report, specific to eCommerce, include:
- Spending on mobile devices during each quarter of 2013 achieved at least a 12-percent growth rate in total online retail spending, outpacing the single-digit growth rates of total consumer retail spending.
- Currently mCommerce is driven predominantly by smartphones, which accounted for 7 percent of spending during the year. Tablets accounted for the remaining 4 percent.
- While smartphones drive a greater overall percentage of dollars in regard to device penetration, tablets result in higher spending on a per user basis.
- In the last quarter, 12 percent of discretionary retail spending occurred online, and it is likely to surpass 15 percent within the next couple of years, particularly as mCommerce becomes a more ingrained behavior of consumers.
- mCommerce currently comprises 12 percent of online retail spending, despite the fact that half of all time spent on digital retail properties is on mobile. This could be in part due to a hesitance among consumers to enter credit card information on mobile phones. A smaller screen size, which makes the transaction process more difficult, could also be a contributing factor.
To read the entire report, ComScore has made it available online. And, to stay up to date with eCommerce trends and news, subscribe to the NetSphere Strategies blog.