It’s almost impossible for anyone in marketing to have not heard about mobile commerce and its potential for marketers over the past several years.  The outlook today, however, is even more positive than ever with the continuing explosion in popularity of both smart phones and tablets.  Take into consideration these impressive statistics:

• By the end of 2012 there will be approximately 115.8 million smart phone users in the US alone.  By 2015 it is expected to reach 176.3 Million. (from eMarketer)
• Mobile commerce sales will reach $111.6 Billion by the end of 2012, marking a 73.1 percent increase. (from eMarketer)
• Consumers are getting more comfortable making purchases from mobile devices with 64% of smart phone owners using their mobile device to shop online (from eDigital Research) and 1 in 5 tablet owners having used their device to make online purchases (from ComScore).

There are other impressive statistics that are being released almost every day and they all show one thing in common.  Mobile commerce is not going away, and any business that isn’t putting some significant focus in this area is missing out on a huge opportunity.  The mobile market today is evolving quickly as new technologies are developed and the wireless connections speeds are improving quickly.  This is opening up many opportunities for virtually every type of business.

Some businesses are taking an approach of waiting until the rapid change dies down, but this will almost certainly result in big losses in both the short and long term profits of their business.  There is currently no end in sight to the changes which are constantly taking place in the mobile market.  The encouraging thing about this, however, is that a business does not need to be on the cutting edge to cash in on the rapid growth of mobile commerce.

One of the ways in which some companies are beating the learning curve is by the affiliate marketing model to the mobile world.  By allowing their affiliates to do the work of keeping up with the latest trends in mobile commerce the companies can continue to focus on their core strengths while still realizing the benefits of this market.  There are, of course, some challenges with putting affiliate programs into a mobile market, but they are well worth the extra effort.

A recent study showed shows that affiliate marketing growth will surpass that of paid search over the course of the next four years.  An estimated 16.7% increase in business spending on affiliate marketing is expected through 2016.  This is, at least in part, due to the fact that the affiliate marketing model will help ensure companies are able to reap the massive rewards from the mobile market.

As more and more focus is put toward mobile commerce it can be expected that there will be some significant changes and improvements for both affiliate marketing and direct marketing as well.  This is certainly a segment of marketing which everyone will need to keep a close eye on.
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Written by Michael Levanduski

Michael Levanduski is a news reporter at Performance Marketing Insider. He’s been a writer at one level or another for the past 15+ years. He has three kids and lives in Grand Rapids, MI.

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