We are at a tipping point, where consumers expect to be able to use their mobile phone as a channel to engage with, and buy from, from their preferred retailers. A small percentage of retailers have recognized this opportunity and have already launched an m-commerce offering with amazing results. Others are yet to recognize the opportunity, or feel restricted due to legacy infrastructure.

New Toy, which is part of mobile and digital communications agency Mobile Interactive Group (MIG), currently works with various leading high street retailers, including Marks & Spencer and Wallis, advising them and helping them to implement their first steps into the mobile space – covering everything from the humble SMS campaign through to mobile internet sites, mobile apps, in-store interactivity, mobile vouchers and more.

Here, Tim Dunn, director of strategy at New Toy, part of Mobile Interactive Group. gives us five reasons that retail brands need to embrace the mobile channel:

1. Consumer enthusiasm and engagement with m-commerce is growing. ABI research predicts that m-commerce will grow to $119bn (£75bn) by 2015.
2. Mobile is real-time. You can talk to your consumers anywhere at anytime.  Reasearch indicates that real-time interaction on mobile informs in-store decision making. 51 per cent  of consumers have used their mobile phones for in-store activities (source: Motorola).
3. Your audience is already trying to find you through their mobile device. 17.9 per cent  of men aged 13-44 have tried to browse an online retailer using their mobile handset (source: comScore) so your website can and should be optimised for mobile devices.  What is more, 25 per cent of consumers have said if they cannot browse their preferred retailer’s website via their mobile device, they would look for a competitor and never try to access that site again (source: 2010 YouGov/BrandBank Mcommerce Content report).
4. Effective deployment to mobile delivers return on investment. Ocado has generated £15m of sales since February with its iPhone application, accounting for 4.4 per cent of all Ocado orders.
5. Banking and payments are going mobile.  Visa is spending over $200 million on global mobile services and the increasing availability of contactless mobile payment enabled devices mean that soon, mobile handsets will also be our wallets

You can view a handy New Toy scribd presentation on the subject here (packed with stats and facts on the mobile opportunity)