Our friends at comScore have published an update on the Canadian smartphone market and there are some interesting shifts and trends happening compared to a year ago. It's clear that mobile is becoming a major channel for consumption of news, information and entertainment. There's also tremendous opportunity for smartphones as an agent for e-commerce. Here's a brief update.
For starters, there has been a sizable increase in smartphone penetration with an overall 45% market share in cell devices being smartphones compared to about 33% last year. This big shift reflects a growing need in Canada of wanting to stay connected while on the go with more than voice communications. The main areas of usage and interest are- news and information (up 43%), social networking (up 40%), weather (up 59%) and search (up 30%). Western Canada continues to lead overall market penetration at over 50% and Quebec is up to 36% compared to 27% last year.It's expected that smartphone adoption to eclipse the 50 percent mark of Canadian mobile subscribers this year.
As the mobile audience reaches this significant landmark along with the growing level of mobile content, marketers need to recognize mobile as an important channel for advertising and brand presence. The reality is that electronic shopping and recommendations from friends using social media is on the increase. Retail stores are on the decline with building costs, rent, heating and fuel for transport increasing. As a result, the role of the store is changing and the opportunity of e-commerce is even more compelling.
Smartphones will impact the traditional sales funnel. The process of making a purchasing decision may occur over multiple screens, for example researching products on the smartphone while out and about, before finally making the purchase online, even with their smartphone, or in person. In order for marketers to successfully compete in this multi-dimensional world, they must strategize the best ways to reach consumers at every step of the funnel, which should now include mobile.
Over the past year we have seen amazing growth in usage on mobile devices as it pertains to: Weather, Online Banking, Social Networking, Retail, Sports, Video Content, E-Mail, News/Information and Deals/Incentives. This points to mobile’s ability to deliver timely and relevant information to Canadians at the power of their finger tips. Consumer usage in all age groups are evolving, and it is essential that carriers, content providers, agencies and advertisers ready themselves for even more sophistication with mobile among the Canadian population in 2012. Whether through mobile advertising, mobile-enabled websites or mobile applications, it is going to become critical that marketers ensure they have a presence in the mobile arena in order to stay competitive.
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