Retailers Taking the Tablet Marketing Pill

Tablet computers seem to be everywhere now. A report from Strategy Analytics measured the total number of global tablet shipments in Q4 2011. The 27 million units shipped represented a 150 percent rise over the same time period a year earlier, when 10.7 million tablets were shipped. For all of 2011, 66.9 million tablets were sold, a 260 percent growth from 2010.

With the devices starting to show up in more consumers' homes, backpacks, briefcases and purses, it's no wonder that marketers are starting to plan for how they can work mobile components into their digital marketing plans.

As Armando Roggio writes for Practical Ecommerce, the technology offers a wealth of opportunities for ecommerce retailers in particular. The challenge that merchants will have to meet as they strategize for tablets is finding a way to make the shopping experience different from what a consumer would have on a laptop or desktop computer, he says. 

"Tablet computers are on the rise, and these popular devices may be facilitating changes in user behavior, ranging from what sort of content users consume to how those users interact with that content," he says.

When designing product descriptions or mobile-optimized websites, retailers should keep in mind that many tablet owners seek to read publications on their devices, Roggio says, pointing to a GfK MRI report. That study showed 71 percent of tablet owners chose to read the digital versions of magazines, books and newspapers, so consider delivering your own content in a similar, visual-heavy layout.

That said, retailers' content marketing and creative design could be more focused on articles, video and images to increase the level of engagement and interactions consumers have with the material, he notes. The smaller details will also require some attention, Roggio warns, so add bigger fonts and navigation buttons to make it easier for people using touch screens to scroll through the site.