Is Your Business Mobile Ready?

It’s no secret that the World Wide Web has gone mobile! Do you remember the days when having a website was paramount, and it was the only thing we needed to worry about besides managing the day-to-day operations of our businesses?

Bill Gates wasn’t kidding when he said, “If your business is not on the Internet, then your business will be out of business.”

Today, the Internet is just part of the equation. Enter mobile devices — sharpening our strategies to ensure that customers and clients find us and engage.

Let’s put this into perspective for you:

Mobile usage:

• 87% of American adults own a cell phone. (Pew Research Center)
• 31% of adults own a tablet. (Pew Research Center )

Social Media

• 15% of U.S. mobile Internet time is spent on social networking sites. (Experian)
• 30% of Facebook’s ad revenue derives from mobile. (Daily Herald)

Shopping

• 16.3% percent of all online Black Friday sales in 2012 came from mobile. (IBM)
• 53% of shoppers compare in-store prices to online prices while shopping. (Mobile Payments Today)
• 36% of shoppers search for other store locations on their phones while shopping in store. (Mobile Payments Today)

Payments

• $1 trillion in transactions by 2015 as forecasted by the mobile payment industry. (Heavy Reading Networks Insider)
• 61% of U.S. consumers believe that credit card payments will be replaced by smartphone payments. (Harris Interactive)

Mobile is not a fad but a shift! Gartner estimates that more than 2 billion mobile devices will be shipped in 2014 alone, and 50% of the average global mobile web user now uses mobile as either their primary or exclusive means of going online.

So what does this mean for your business? It’s time to think about developing mobile strategies. Even Google has taken steps to improve mobile searches with its latest Pigeon update that ensures businesses are found via local search.

So the question still stands. Is your business mobile ready?