Retail sales have been on the rise over the years and will continue to do so, which is no surprise to anyone that works in the space. The projections show strong growth among the global retail industry, looking to top $27 trillion by 2020, a 33 percent increase from the nearly $21 trillion in sales in 2015 (and yes, that's "trillion" with a "T").

What's most exciting is that digital commerce is continuously growing as a slice of overall retail sales. By 2020 we're looking at ecommerce taking roughly 15 percent of total global sales, doubling since 2015 and making up more than $4 trillion worldwide. But how do brands compete with one another for the holy grail of both online and mobile shopping: new, high-intent, loyal customers?

It's a tough question and one that we're hoping to solve. Many brands focus on the duopoly of Google and Facebook to attract new users; in fact, these two platforms make up almost 60 percent of overall advertising spend (and it's growing). However, there are nearly 600 mobile websites and 150 mobile apps that have over 5M users— ones that aren't learning about your products or services at the same scale, not to mention when primed to purchase. That's where Button comes in, where our Marketplace of Publishers opens up a new, scalable channel of user acquisition and, ultimately, sales. Consumer intent arises in many places when it comes to their beloved mobile device: digital content, travel bookings, a favorite loyalty app, and so much more.

Welcome, eBay!

We've created a variety of new integrations for many Merchants in our Marketplace (Jet, Hotels.com, Ticketmaster, and delivery.com to name a few), and today we're announcing eBay as the latest to join Button! Now, Publishers will have the ability to add an eBay Button to their mobile site or app, leading consumers to purchase that must-have item on the marketplace with a single tap.

"Mobile commerce is a significant growth driver for us, and partnering with Button will enable more mobile app partners to quickly integrate shopping on eBay into their apps. We are excited to be partnering with their innovative mobile network."— John Toskey, Director, Global eBay Partner Network

A Tale of Two Retailers

We've talked a lot about some amazing partners and new integrations we've brought on board at Button, but what actually happens once they've integrated and given the green light? Quite a bit, in fact. We've seen the success of the affiliate channel on desktop, which makes up about 20 percent of all e-commerce sales, and at Button we think we've taken big steps to crack the code on making this equally, if not more successful on mobile. We've already seen steady conversion rates of nearly 4x that of search and 8x higher than social, and have driven tens of millions in consumer spending over the holidays— and the movement on mobile is only accelerating.

We'll take a look at two retail giants that have been on Button's platform for about six months : Groupon, the leading local marketplace where mobile makes up 60 percent of sales, and Jet, heralded as Walmart's challenge to Amazon (let's quickly recall their focus on mobile this past Thanksgiving, where 70 percent of website traffic was on mobile). After becoming part of our Marketplace, both of these brands were able to scale new mobile affiliate partnerships across an array of brands in a turnkey manner without consuming additional engineering resources.

Distributing Commerce Across Mobile

When one of the leading shopping apps— Jet— analyzed their own strategy, the team turned to Button to move beyond the traditional mobile acquisition channels and into new, high-quality partnerships. This has resulted in integrations with brands such as leading loyalty app Ibotta and digital media giant Huffington Post, aligning product alongside relevant content and opening up new commerce channels. Read: new opportunities for revenue!

The Jet integration flow on Ibotta

"In a short amount of time, Button has become one of our most effective channels we use for driving mobile acquisition. Being able to tap into different publishers with relevant offerings not only drives sales within our app, but new, high-value repeat purchasers as well."— Lauren Picasso, Director of Marketing at Jet.

Bringing Local Deals to an App Near You

After joining the Button Marketplace, the go-to brand for local deals and savings— Groupon— found a similar need when it came to their mobile strategy. The app has now partnered with numerous global brands through Button, including the Hotels.com Concierge launched in January, loyalty apps Ibotta (US) and Quidco (UK), GasBuddy's six million users, local discovery platform Foursquare, and others, aligning local deals with content that's contextually-relevant among each brand.

"The opportunity within Button's Marketplace has opened up endless possibilities to scale Groupon's mobile efforts. Button is a popular channel we use for driving mobile acquisition and has become a go-to path for partnerships in mobile."— Brian Fields, VP of Strategic Partnerships at Groupon

Overall, Groupon has seen conversion rates that are higher than many other channels, and in only six months, has driven hundreds of thousands of orders through Button's contextual commerce engine. Groupon was also the first to leverage Button's Customer Segment product, making it possible to segment deals within the Ibotta app based on the retailer's purchase history for new, existing, and lapsed users.

As our CEO Michael Jaconi puts it: "With brands spending an average of $114 on acquiring mobile users, it's exciting to implement a solution that helps partners find something better than other channels out there. With retailers like the above, having aggressive mobile growth goals, we're able to make their acquisition spend more efficient, ultimately solving one of the biggest challenges inherent in performance marketing."

Tell Me More…

We'll be at eTail West in Palm Springs this afternoon, so if you're attending be sure to check out our CEO's keynote at 12:20pm PT, talking all things ecommerce. We'll be rolling out some exciting new features within our Customer Segments product, so stay tuned for those details.

And if you're interested in learning more about how to either become a Button or how you can host a Button, drop us a line and let's connect.