• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, March 1, 2017

According to the The 2017 Mobile-First Ecommerce Report from ROI Revolution, reported by Internet Retailer, mobile is no longer an optional marketing strategy for ecommerce businesses; it is a necessity, but many online businesses have yet to master the implementation and optimization of a mobile- first mentality. If you fit that category, says the report, the findings help leverage strategies, not previously considered, to grow your business.

In 2011, mobile advertising was in its infancy, says the report. Just over $1.5 billion in digital advertising was invested in the relatively new channel, compared to over $30 billion on desktop. Yet, it’s estimated that in 2016, over $42 billion in digital advertising spend came from mobile, compared to just $25 billion on desktop, a 2800% increase in mobile ad spend in just five years! Mobile, says the report, needs to be more than an add-on strategy, it needs to be a central part of your business plan.

This study is not a call to abandon desktop search optimizations in favor of mobile. Digital advertising spend has invested between the two channels, and overall digital advertising revenue is roughly a 50/50 split. However, click volume for desktop has remained relatively constant, and conversion rates still remain considerably higher.

Three years ago, says the report, 70% of the click share was coming from desktops. Now, desktop click share has fallen to 42%, with mobile clicks taking the lead at 46%. The dominance of desktop is already a thing of the past, concludes the report, as mobile has officially passed desktop in total click volume. In Q1 of last year, mobile and desktop were at near parity, but in the past 9-10 months, mobile has taken a commanding lead.

While Google had been artificially supporting desktop clicks through aggressive optimization of the search experience for years, their recent push for a mobile-first experience in AdWords has produced a rapid growth in overall mobile click volume, and this trend looks to continue in 2017, says the report.

In looking at the raw volume of clicks, Google Shopping clicks have been steadily increasing across all devices, representing 51% of all Google search ad clicks, and among these Google Shopping clicks, 56% are coming from mobile, says the report.

It is projected that in 2017, Google's mobile display advertising revenue will hit $2.38 billion, nearly doubling in the last three years. Although mobile conversion rates are lower than desktop (in 2016, a varied sample of ROI clients averaged 1.03% on mobile and 2.8% on desktop), the sheer volume of clicks, overall click share, and often lower bid costs make it an advertising platform that is essential to any ecommerce business, concludes the report.

For additional information from Internet Retailer and ROI MobileFirst, please visit here.