There’s No Such Thing As Mobile Marketing

Perhaps the distinction between mobile and non-mobile began as a necessary evil. In the early days it may have been useful for web development and Analytics, keeping the new separate from the old. However, as time wears on and we stay in this permanent state of change, the distinction increasingly seems, well, inane.

Providing the same ecommerce experience for mobile and desktop

It doesn’t matter what platform the internet is viewed on, its content remains the same. Likewise, regardless of which device it is accessed on, the internet will continue to evolve in its own distinct way. There is nothing inherently special about the mobile device. 

Before the ‘mobile revolution’ there were various other revolutions (Windows, games consoles, virtual reality). Mobile may simply be the latest in a never ending line of publishing fads. When we’re downloading content directly to our irises how we will laugh about fuddy duddy mobile optimisation.

Devices are moving towards being mobile dominant, but it won’t stop there. We will probably find that while we are busy optimising for mobile, the very display of information will change. A perfectly mobile-optimised 2D website may well look very out of date while others are developing more cleverly.

Ecommerce design should cater for today's devices and devices of the future

Although mobile is, for now, dominant, it is short-sighted to fixate on it. As marketers are busy optimising sites for mobile, the very display of information they show could change. Intelligent design and development will never be ‘futureproof’, although it should reflect an ability to change as devices evolve. 

There is a common attitude of asking whether certain programmes or hardware could be ‘the future’. This is beside the point: the future is not a definite programme or device, it is a set of changing behaviours.

How ecommerce and the mobile platform will evolve together

Technologies are going to continue to evolve. So, marketers, developers and eCommerce managers will naturally alter their strategies in line with technical changes. And yet the customers using that technology will change much more slowly. Buying habits don’t change with every OS update, they are far more glacial than Apple and Samsung. We must remember that people are the key, and we should market for them, rather than whatever device they’re looking at.

To make divisions between mobile and “not mobile” as a marketer is backward. Businesses with high growth have to provide seamless digital customer experiences, using ‘one online’ rather than segmented experiences. Mobile should not be ignored, but it needs to be integrated into strategy rather than defining it. It is the starting block in the race for digital innovation, not the finishing line.