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Retail Sector Set To Benefit From Mobile Marketing

A report published today titled ‘The State of SMS’ reveals how retailers are set to benefit from advances in mobile marketing as the number of active mobile phones in circulation tops 80m for the first time. The sector is expected to see a 62% increase in customers opting to receive text messages from their preferred brands by the end of 2020, presenting significant business opportunities.

The White Paper, commissioned by Chester based Textlocal, one of the UK’s leading SMS platforms, illustrates how 37.2 million consumers have already opted to receive SMS and mobile communications from businesses, with 13.6m retail customers already opting in to receive texts on offers, promotions or to confirm delivery slots.

The most popular reasons for businesses to text customers are; delivery updates (67%), order confirmations (64%) and personalised vouchers or offers (49%). Customer loyalty programme updates via text were also popular with more than a third of customers (39%).

The report highlights how three quarters (77%) of smartphone users say receiving surprise points or rewards, exclusive content and special text messages would have a positive impact on their brand loyalty; while six out of 10 say their opinion of a retailer would be more positive if they received coupons or offers via their smartphones.


The opportunity is reinforced by figures from Ofcom which estimate that a staggering 93% of the UK’s population now own a mobile phone. Despite these findings, only 50% of businesses surveyed are currently using SMS as part of their marketing strategies, however that is expected to grow to 92% by 2018.

The retail sector is leading the way with 17% of customers opting to hear from operators once a week and three quarters receiving notifications once a month or more. This compares to 11% in the leisure sector and similar levels amongst bars, clubs and restaurant operators.

Jason Palgrave-Jones, managing director of Textlocal, comments: “Mobiles have transformed the way we work, rest and play and are now set to change the way we shop. It’s clear from the report that there are significant opportunities available for businesses to make the most of mobile technologies as their customers are increasingly opting to hear more from them.”

The opportunity is highlighted by the fact that 98% of branded or business-related texts are opened by mobile users, with 90% being read within 3 minutes of receiving them. The report goes on to highlight that 23.5m people will respond to a business text message in 2017, with the most popular uses including marketing offers or confirmation of delivery schedules. In total, more than 7bn texts will be sent this year alone.

A broader look at the SMS opt-in audience reveals that consumers are aware of the opt-in process and that businesses can only communicate with them with their permission. More than 40% of users are only opting to hear from their six favoured brands, with only 4% sharing their details with more than 10 businesses. Just over a third (37%) were not aware of how many businesses they had opted to receive SMS notifications from.

The report concludes to show the effectiveness of SMS compared to mobile advertising and social media platforms in terms of performance, with SMS achieving better responses whether targeting a recipient to download an app, purchase goods online or even encourage them into a store to make a purchase. In addition, the results highlight that only 10% wanted to use Facebook as a tool for interacting with brands.