Retailers and media organisations need to move faster to take advantage of the growth in mobile devices warns 2ergo. The advice from the mobile marketing and technology firm comes in response to news that shipment of mobile devices has now overtaken personal computers.

According to the analyst, IDC, mobile phone manufacturers shipped a total of 101m smartphones in the last three months of the year, up 87 per cent from the same period a year earlier. PC shipments reached 92m units in the fourth quarter, up less than 3 per cent year-on-year. Smartphone shipments (and sales) were expected to overtake PCs some time in 2011, but according to the IDC stats, it happened earlier than most people expected.

“Now that there are more mobile devices than personal computers being shipped, the tipping point where mobile internet usage overtakes PC is moving a step closer,” says 2ergo joint managing director, John Stevens. “Retailers need to move even more quickly to embrace mobile. Our own research shows that retailers are still behind the curve when it comes to an end-to-end mobile strategy. We found that 93 per cent of the UK’s leading retailers missed out this Christmas by failing to respond to the increasing mobile habits of shoppers. They might have an app, but what else are they doing to take advantage of the wider mobile propositions? There is a lot more that retailers could be doing. We’ve previously made ambitious predictions that consumers will embrace mobile commerce this year, but only time will tell which retailers will react and be in place to take advantage of the opportunity.”

You can see 2ergo’s predictions for mobile marketing in 2011 here.

ps

If youre a retailer trying to get your head round mobile, you can sign up to our free Mobile retail Masterclass, which takes place in London on 15 March, here.

The half-day event offers retailers a deep-dive into the most pertinent aspects of mobile marketing for the retail sector, including mobile sites, apps, advertising and CRM/loyalty programmes.