Electronic Retailer - July 2012 - 31

desktops, yet the average CPC for the former two devices is 30 percent lower, thus suggesting a market opportunity for hungry advertisers. Despite these large increases in mobile and tablet purchases and traffic, it would be unwise to base advertising spend allocation on market trends alone. Indeed, there may be some instances in which traditional desktop advertising is superior to that of mobile or tablet advertising, some of which are outlined below.

It’s Not What You Say, It’s What You Say It On
According to “Explaining Consumer Acceptance of Handheld Internet Devices,” published in the Journal of Business Research, the medium influences the behavioral intentions of consumers separate from the advertising content. This is predicated on the finding that media engagement yields a greater inclination to purchase an advertised product. This relationship between a medium and the behavioral outcomes of consumers, however, is mediated by a consumer’s attitude towards the medium. The antecedents to these attitudes differ depending on the medium: “Usefulness” is most likely to influence attitudes in the case of desktops; whereas, “fun of using the device” is more effective in the case of mobile phones and tablets. Thus, one important practical implication is that informative, utilitarian advertising messages might be best targeted towards desktops, while experiential or hedonic messages are best reserved for mobile and tablet platforms. A note of caution based on the prior implication is that a typical kneejerk response for advertisers seeking to exploit mobile and tablet advertising is to add bells and whistles to their ads to make them more “fun.” However, the strongest antecedent to “fun” is “ease of use,” so practitioners should be reasonable in their approach as, at some critical point, returns are likely to diminish. Another perhaps more obvious difference among the media and their effectiveness comes in the form of visual processing. In a rather paradoxical tradeoff, the larger displays of desktops 31

©istockphoto.com/DrAfter123

we will show that all media are not created equal, nor should they be treated as such when allocating advertising spend.

The Ever-Expanding Mobile and Tablet Markets
U.S. smartphone ownership is inching closer to the 50 percent mark, according to Seeking Alpha’s Research Recap, and tablet sales are expected to outpace laptop sales by 2016 (and desktop sales as early

as 2013). Consider that in the first quarter of 2012 alone, mobile search spend increased 221.1 percent year-over-year, while mobile ad clicks increased 246.1 percent year-over-year. According to the Adobe Digital Index for the first quarter of 2012, tablets alone accounted for nearly half the increase in mobile search spend in the same quarter. Additionally, conversion rates for mobile phones and tablets are comparable to those of

July 2012 | electronicRETAILER

Electronic Retailer - July 2012

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Electronic Retailer - July 2012