Tis the season for mobile commerce
Oh you’d better watch out, you’d better not cry, if you’re not mobile this holiday retail season may pass you by. Well, at least that’s a direction the latest vSplash small and medium-sized business (SMB) study points in. Numbers are in and the SMB DigitalScape survey shows that a whopping 98 percent of SMBs are not mobile optimized. The bottom line is that the companies that participated in the study are ill equipped to capitalize on the growing mobile commerce opportunity being driven by consumer mobile usage and smartphone proliferation.
“Some experts are predicting smartphones and tablets will account for around one-third of all website visits this coming holiday shopping season,” said Umesh Tibrewal, CEO, vSplash. “According to our current data, nearly all SMBs will be challenged to capitalize on this mobile commerce opportunity due to their incompatible websites.”
Study findings
- 76% of SMB websites have no privacy policy, putting them at risk of not being indexed by search engines for missing this best practice element.
- 44% of SMB homepages have no phone number, making it difficult for consumers to easily contact them.
- 78% of SMB homepages do not have a Facebook link, creating a disconnect between web presence and social presence.
The vSplash SMB DigitalScape platform is a state of the art data collecting and analysis tool being used to gauge the state of SMB digital media and commerce. The platform is updated quarterly, and the data is gathered from a random sampling of over 2 million SMB websites.
Findings to be released and discussed
The SMB DigitalScape Q2 update will be presented at upcoming industry events in the U.S., Europe and Asia. The first stop is the BIA/Kelsey’s SMB Digital Marketing 2012 conference in Chicago. As data continues to come in, expect additional findings to be presented on Sept. 21 by vSplash Advisor Neal Polachek to European directory publishers and local search providers at the EASDP Annual Congress, in Toledo, Spain. Polachek will also present the data to local search and media executives at the ADPAI Annual Conference, Nov. 5-6, in Bangkok.
According to the press release, vSplash is sponsoring this week’s SMB Digital Marketing 2012 event. There is a lot of excitement surrounding this event as its next-generation digital marketing sales tool, BuzzBoard will be introduced. “BuzzBoard integrates listings level data from SMB DigitalScape to help digital marketing sales reps pinpoint new business opportunities. Available online for inside sales reps and on iPad for outside sales reps, BuzzBoard automates prospect research, needs assessment and proposal generation, significantly shortening sales cycles.”
By all means monitor vSplash.com for more info and the SMB DigitalScape U.S. quarterly updates and custom data reports are available through vSplash data partner BIA/Kelsey.
About vSplash.com:
Based in Lyndhurst, New Jersey, vSplash is a leading global provider of digital media and commerce solutions to SMB and local marketing aggregators. Using its trusted market data and analytics, vSplash identifies actual SMB needs, which represent real revenue opportunities for its partners. vSplash helps its partners capitalize on market opportunities by delivering scalable Web-based marketing, advertising, directory, commerce and fulfillment solutions for corporations, educational institutions and governments worldwide. vSplash leverages global resources and expertise deployed around the world to produce more than 10,000 forms of digital media each month.
