We recently released our inaugural report on mobile in retail, Keeping Up with the Mobile Consumer. In the opening sentence, we describe consumer mobile technology as the most galvanizing force (in a positive way) we’ve ever seen in retail. In the past few weeks, we’ve had some validation to that statement: the report has spread around the globe like wildfire. In addition to droves of retailers from such expected places as North America, Western Europe and Japan, retailers from New Zealand, Russia, Colombia, Macedonia – even Afghanistan – have downloaded the report to study its findings; just one more testament to consumer mobile technologies’ ability to make the world “flatter. “

If you haven’t yet, the full report is definitely worth reading. But as with all of our reports, one of my favorite sections is where we examine which technologies retailers are already purchasing, and in which they plan to invest in the coming months. To date, across the board, even when looking at the highest performers, retailers have not done much with mobile yet. However, based on the sheer volume of opportunities they identify, coupled with the amount of budgeted and planned projects they have in the works, we expect that will not be the case when we conduct this research again in 12 months’ time.

Twenty three percent of all retailers have budget set aside to ensure that the mobile developments they take on are repeatable across multiple platforms. And while 21% already have budgeted for mobile capabilities delivered via the cloud (or a Software as a Service model), another 23% have plans for offerings that leverage such delivery models.

Too Soon To Lock In

Because retailers are so early in their adoption cycle of mobile solutions, it is important to examine those technologies which they perceive to hold the most value for them in the near future – particularly for those retailers whose sales are already outperforming the competition.

Retail Winners are slightly less inclined to envision a future where the eCommerce site is simply extended out to the mobile channel (77% vs. 88% of all others). In a related notion, they look to outside advertising agencies with mobile experience less than do their competitors, as well (18% of Winners, 31% of all others). Instead, Winners are much more focused on the ability to write once and deploy across multiple mobile platforms than are average and underperformers (73% vs. 35%) – another clear indicator that the best performers take a broader view of what mobile really looks like as it relates to how consumers use mobility. While all retailers recognize that mobile devices, their capabilities, and shoppers’ willingness to use them are very difficult to predict, the best retailers understand that “the next big thing ” in mobile devices – or platforms – may be just around the corner at any given time; these are not static times, and therefore any mobile offering must be built with an innate flexibility to accommodate whatever trends emerge – and quickly.

We encourage all RPW readers to download a full copy of this report (even if you’re in Timbuktu).