Gartner, Inc. recently forecasted a 30X increase in Internet-connected physical devices by 2020 and these devices will significantly alter supply chain information.

The Internet of Things is predicted to reach 26 billion installed units by the year 2020 and its impact may reach further than you think.   According to Michael Burkett, managing vice president at Gartner, “Some IoT devices are more mature, such as commercial telematics now used in trucking fleets to improve logistics efficiency, some, such as smart fabrics that use sensors within clothing and industrial fabrics to monitor human health or manufacturing processes, are just emerging.”

As businesses see these capabilities become more common,  supply chains will be able to deliver to customers more efficiently. This efficiency will happen when many more smart devices than today are communicating to a network that then creates the appropriate response.

“Smart delivery of goods and services based on the needs communicated through the Internet of Things is the next wave of mobile business and smart applications,” says Kimber Johnson, Managing Director of Vanity Point, “Investment in this area is expected to yield sizable returns.”

Tip #1 Start with a goal – Too many businesses build a mobile web site without determining what exactly they want the site to do. Do you want your mobile site to generate orders and sales? Drive traffic to a brick and mortar location? Once you have figured out your goal(s) keep your mobile site focus on accomplishing one or maybe two goals. A tight, clear focus produces much better results in the mobile medium than just duplicating your regular website.

Tip #2 Keep your visitors in mind – Your business and mobile web site have a specific audience and this is who you want to speak to when you build your mobile web site.

Tip #3 Build a bridge – Build a bridge between your visitors and your site goal(s). This is a simple tip that is often overlooked and highly effective if followed. If your goal is to drive foot traffic into various brick and mortar locations, utilize your mobile web to build a clear, easy to follow bridge to that goal. Often when consumers are visiting the web via mobile devices they are “on-the-go”, so creating a simple, easy-to-follow path will yield positive results.

Tip #4 Less is more – Don’t try to cram everything from your regular web site onto your mobile web site. Your business will benefit from a clean, uncluttered look that users can easily navigate. Use standard symbols for navigation where appropriate to help clean up the look. Opt for a clean, fresh look rather than design heavy features that aren’t effective in the mobile environment.

Tip #5 Stay current – A dated look can turn visitors away from your mobile web site. Opt for a fresh look and plan on reviewing and updating yearly.

The report continues on to detail how mobile money users are more likely to make higher-value purchases via mobile devices.

Increasingly markets are seeing a rise in consumers who prefer not to use cash for purchases. Just as markets saw the rise of consumers who made payments via credit or debit cards, markets are now seeing growth in mobile money users and cash use is on the decline.

“With the growth of mCommerce,” says Kimber Johnson, Managing Director, Vanity Point, “we are seeing proactive businesses setting themselves apart from their competition by offering an additional level of convenience with mobile payment options.”

By using mobile POS options, including check out via mobile application, retailers can serve more customers during busy times and also issue paperless receipts to customers’ e-mail addresses. The evidence to the effectiveness of mobile checkout is growing rapidly. For instance, during the 2012 holiday season, Alex and Ani added mobile checkout in several of their US stores and saw an impressive 318% increase in sales just from transactions processed by associates utilizing mobile POS terminals.

Now is an exceptional time for retailers to update their systems.  “Unlike a few years ago, many vendors are now offering mobile POS terminals and support services. These vendors are also offering attractive incentives to merchants and retailers to upgrade their old terminals with new mobile POS systems,” says Shailendra Pandey, a senior analyst at Informa Telecoms & Media and author of the report.

“With the growth of users’ expectations when it comes to service and usability, improving the check out process is a key way retailers meet their customers’ needs” states Kimber Johnson, Managing Director of Vanity Point Interactive Design. “We have entered an era where consumers are demanding more in physical locations based on the excellent experiences they are having on mobile applications or web sites.”

BuzzCity found that key concerns of consumers are product variety (33 percent) and for it to be easy to find those products (32 percent), whether consumers are online and in the store. These concerns come above finding discounts either in stores (24 percent) and online (14 percent).

Of particular note was that 20 percent of those surveyed stated that using their mobile device to find information in the store is quicker than asking a clerk or other sales staff. Clearly it is important for businesses to consider that shoppers could be viewing their mobile applications or mobile web site when on the show room floor and provide them with the necessary tools.

“When consumers shop, they can find all the product information they need just by pulling out their smartphone,” states Kimber Johnson, Managing Director, Vanity Point. “Smart retailers are making it easier and easier for shoppers to utilized a integrated shopping approach where they can augment their in the store experience with mobile tools.”

Interestingly, Android users were shown to be 2 – 3 times more likely to share articles than iOS users. According to Rumble, “Although building a high-performing Android mobile app can be time intensive and expensive the Android market is continuing to grow and now represents more than half of the U.S. smartphone market”. Therefore, those publishers who want to grow their audience and reach will benefit from having an Android presence.

Additionally, if you thought the most used way users share mobile news articles was via Facebook or Twitter, you would be surprised to learn that according to Rumble, email is the top sharing method (76 percent) versus 12% who use Twitter and another 12% who use Facebook. Clearly it is important that marketers support email sharing in their mobile apps.

It was also shown that iPhone users display 3X more likely to share an article than iPad users. Clearly if your mobile model has sharing as fundamental point, your mobile application development plans should start with an Android application and follow with an iPhone application.

Rumble’s findings also show that push notification is a key engagement tool with rates as high as 70 percent of an app’s user base opening the app with just a single push. Clearly this is an excellent tool for continued engagement with your application.

One of the key findings is that most businesses aren’t handling mobile developments in-house. According to Synivere’s report,  a full 77 percent of those surveyed are turning to outside vendors for their expertise on how to succeed in the mobile market.

Furthermore, it this survey, it is found that 92 percent of the business people surveyed believe mobile is ‘important or very important’ to their business and 84 percent ‘plan to incorporate’ mobile into upcoming marketing plans. Additionally, 88 percent say they have a ‘defined’ mobile strategy for future marketing efforts.

Of those who currently have a strategy, around half state that they are in the process of implementing it. However, only 24 percent say that their strategy has been implemented at this point and only about 10 percent say they are currently developing a mobile strategy

Businesses were quick to understand that mobile apps and web sites allow them to prosper in their local markets. Going local deepens the engagement levels of consumers.  Syniverse’s data shows that 73 percent of businesses surveyed have included a location-based strategy, which allows them to use geographic profiling to better interact with shoppers.

According to the report, those shopping for consumer electronics and toys are the most likely to use mobile devices while shopping. Additionally data shows that 70 percent of US shoppers are using both online and offline info to make decisions on purchases. 64 percent of those of shoppers choose to go in-store to see and feel the product and 63 percent stated they buy in-store to get the product home sooner.

“The future of shopping is here,” says Kimber Johnson, Managing Director of Vanity Point. “Retailers need accept and embrace their shoppers’ habits and preferences or they will be left behind.”

Mobile Applications and Mobile Web Sites should be part of a unified brand that cuts across all platforms and delivers the information that this new shopper is looking for. Businesses can no longer feel content to sever customers while they are in the store but must cater to them on-line, in the store and everywhere in between.

“Studies like this serve to drive home the point that companies need to make mobile a top priority right now to keep up with their competition,” says Kimber Johnson, Managing Director, Vanity Point. “with advertising it is important to put your message where consumers eyes are and right now they are on their mobile devices.”

Furthermore, in the survey, participants were asked what they ranked as “very important” or “important” mobile advertising developments and  87% said responsive design followed by HTML5 (77%) and mobile native advertising (74%).

Responsive web design is a hot trend right now that allows business to address the needs of a mobile web site without building a separate web site for mobile devices. “We see several of our customers opting for responsive web design right now,” continues Kimber Johnson, “it is an affordable and effective first step to address mobile marketing needs”.

Eptica goes on to detail the issues that plague consumers’ mobile web experiences: the leading issue was the lack of functionality both on the mobile web and within mobile apps (36 percent), while 34 percent mentioned slow loading speeds and 34 percent were frustrated by websites that were not optimized for smaller mobile screens.

Clearly there are great opportunities that exist for savvy companies that offer users what they are looking for on their mobile devices. Mobile optimized web sites that offer solid fundamentals of usability and load rapidly will keep consumers coming back. Mobile apps must offer users a solid user experience or will be deleted soon in favor of other apps that offer the experience users are looking for.

“With the rapid growth of the mobile arena, there is a huge opportunity for companies that choose to give customers what they are looking for,” says Kimber Johnson, Managing Director of Vanity Point “It isn’t enough just to have a mobile offering. The medium is starting to mature and customers are looking for quality experiences. By not giving your customers the experience they are expecting you are just letting them know you don’t understand mobile and are sending them to someone who does.”

It is more and more important that marketers understand mobile and how to succeed and companies that that do understand mobile are starting to separate themselves from those that do not.