Research by Leeds-based Savvy Marketing has tracked changing attitudes towards digital marketing as smartphone ownership approaches critical mass.
The survey of 1,000 household shopping decision makers across the UK published today shows that, rather than being annoyed by their gadgets, 64 percent of shoppers find the idea of receiving targeted coupons to their smartphones appealing.
“Smartphones and tablets have become a ubiquitous part of people’s lives, with shoppers now instinctively turning to their phones throughout the day for a multitude of reasons. As these devices have become more powerful, shoppers are increasingly looking to them to carry out a much wider range of tasks,” said Alastair Lockhart, insight director at Savvy Marketing.
“Our research looks deeper into shoppers’ expectations of technology and functionalities that they’re looking for retailers and brands to provide moving forwards.”
One of the key research areas looked at who shoppers trusted to deliver information about goods and services – and found that the retailers were more trusted than the brands.
The survey found:
- Grocery retailers are trusted the most by UK shoppers to deliver digital marketing campaigns direct to their smartphones (68 percent).
- Loyalty card providers come in second place with 58 percent.
- Just 32 percent of UK shoppers trusted brands to carry out these types of campaigns.
- Interestingly 24 percent of shoppers said that they wouldn’t trust any of the groups specified to deliver digital campaigns.
Lockhart sought to explain that difference in persception: “Retailers, who are the closest to the shopper, need to facilitate and lead this fundamental change. Brands on the other hand, also need to up their game. We see them taking more of a partnership role with these types of initiatives in conjunction with retailers – rather than expecting shoppers to download numerous apps for each brand owner, making it unnecessarily complex. “
You can read the full report here.
