Car Shopping: How Publishers and App Developers Can Shift into Monetization Gear

By Amy Vale

The “shop by phone” phenomena isn’t just a U.S. thing; it’s going international. eMarketer expects U.S. consumers to make nearly $87 billion in mobile purchases by 2016, which is more than 27 percent of all ecommerce transactions. Meanwhile in the UK, smartphonepenetration is expected to reach 45.5 percent by the end of 2013, with an increase to 55 percent market share by the end of 2014. And one industry in particular is ripe to benefit from the increasingly mobile-first tendencies of consumers – automotive. With the rapid adoption of mobile platforms in the US and UK, car enthusiasts and shoppers will begin to diversify their mobile usage whether it’s using their mobile devices when actually inside their cars or looking to purchase a new car. The Societyof Motor Manufacturers and Traders reported roughly 1.9 million new UK car registrations were recorded in 2012, preserving the UK car industry from the greater decline in car sales being seen by many other European countries. With growing adoption of smartphones and tablets and more drivers hitting the road, the need for publishers and app developers to be laser-focused and strategic in their mobile strategies is even greater.

Target Customers En Route

It’s so important for app developers to understand (and know with great certainty) who their target audience is.  Are your app users aged 18-24? Do your app users typically use an iOS or Android device? What are the top DMAs where your users are located (and making purchase)? Knowing these details is crucial to ensuring your app doesn’t just become a one-hit wonder and actually creates a consistent stream of revenue.

With location targeting, apps developers can be more defined in how, where, and when they’re connecting and engaging with users. Whether it’s driving mcommcere or increasing the success of loyalty/rewards prgrams, location targeting can be a tremendous monetization boon for app developers. Take the navigation app Waze, for example. Waze found that over 50 percent of users make pit stops while driving, and many search for local services. With this information, they launched WazeAds to help local businesses target nearby users and send messages to those who are already searching for services.

Increase Clicks and Eyeballs with Rich Media

Rich media ads tend to perform well in driving users to mobile-optimized websites. According to Nielsen’sglobal survey of multi-screen media usage, 74 percent of global respondents report watching the video via the internet (on any device), up four points since 2010, and over half of global online consumers (56 percent) watch video on a mobile phone at least once a month and 28 percent at least once a day.

Tie Social into Metrics

Researchfrom Nielsen and NMI has surfaced proving something we’ve known for a while – the most engaged consumers on social networks are also the ones accessing the platforms on their mobile devices. In fact, 46 percent of social media users use their smartphones to access social media, while 16 percent do so via tablet devices. To truly see any benefits from this, publishers and app developers need to tier out their monetization strategies into short, medium and long term, and identify how to measure that effectively.