Annual mobile marketing ad spend by retailers will reach $55bn by 2015, almost double the $28bn level expected this year and 205 per cent more than the $18bn seen in 2012, a Juniper report has found.

The increasing amount of mCommerce being done by consumers on smartphones and tablets will boost this growth, particularly in North America and Western Europe, the report said. In 2015, the world leaders in terms of total retail ad spend will be China and the Far East, North America and Western Europe.

“If retailers truly want to maximise the mobile monetisation opportunity, then optimisation is critical,” according to the author of the report, Dr Windsor Holden. “If you are using mobile advertising for consumer acquisition, you need to push users to a site with which they can comfortably interact; retailers that fail to respond to consumer demand will fall behind.”

The report says that mobile coupons, which can be distributed, stored and used easily, are driving retail footfall, while AR and NFC are increasingly being integrated into in-store retail strategies.