Joe Dermody
Irish SMEs have a lot to gain from being more invested in their mobile online presence, says John Brennan, director at ePresence Online Marketing.
Mr Brennan, who also lectures on Digital Marketing at CIT, said: “In the US, 45% of all online sales are expected to be on mobile by 2020. Looking at our top clients, 50% to 70% of their traffic can already be traced back to a mobile device, with approximately half of all revenue generated on mobile devices.
"With over 90% of the country having access to a smartphone, and 87% of smartphones owners using it as their first resource for information — it is a critical source of business for Irish SMEs."
The ePresence founder says that the importance of immediacy has spiked. In the last two years, Google has seen a 120% rise in mobile searches related to ‘same-day shipping’, a 150% increase in travel searches for ‘today’ and ‘tonight’, and three times as many ‘open now’ searches.
According to PayPal, Irish online shoppers spent €2.7billion overseas last year. Almost half-a-million people, 19% of all online shoppers, solely bought from websites outside of Ireland.
“The shift is not exclusive to retailers,” said Mr Brennan. “Business to business is not immune with recent statistics reporting that 71% of B2B researchers beginning their research with generic Google searches. Without ensuring that each interaction with your company is positive and seamless — crossing mobile, desktop and offline interactions — organisations will lose customers who will not return.”
