Best Buy is continuing to bank on mobile advertising as a workhorse to help the company drive online sales.

Through the new mobile ad campaign Best Buy is promoting its line of GPS navigation devices. The Best Buy mobile ads are running within the Elle mobile site.

“Retailers have a huge opportunity to focus their attention on mobile initiatives early in the game,” said Shawn Busteed, vice president of technology and programming at TBA Global, New York.

“The goal should be to make mobile experiences with clean UI, easy shopper identification and integrations into their own customer loyalty programs,” he said.

“The race has already begun, but we will start to see retailers fully embrace the mobile shopper.”

Mr. Busteed is not associated with Best Buy. He commented based on his expertise on the subject.

Best Buy did not respond to press inquiries.

Virtual direction
The copy for the mobile ads read, “Get out and go with the best GPS selection” and encourage users to learn more about GPS devices.

When users tap on the mobile ad they are first taken to a landing page where they can learn about different brands of devices with a quick bullet list of the product’s features.

A button in the bottom right-hand corner then encourages users to shop now.

When consumers tap on the button they are taken to a filtered page on Best Buy’s mobile site where they can view all of the company’s GPS devices.

From the mobile site, users can add items to their shopping carts, wish lists or share the page via email, Twitter, Facebook or a text message.

Once a consumer adds an item to their shopping cart, they can then view recommended products that go with a GPS device – including protection plans and accessories.

An initiative such as this from Best Buy is not only a clever way to increase sales for the retailer. GPS devices in particular are a natural fit to promote on mobile screens while consumers are out and about and may be in the market for one.

Users can browse items on the mobile site

Mobile retailer
This is the latest in a string of similar campaigns from Best Buy meant to drive online traffic and sales.

Most recently, the company used a mobile ad campaign with Pandora that used location and relevancy to let users buy televisions from their devices.

The ad used location to let users know how close they were to the nearest store (see story).

Additionally, Best Buy has used mobile advertising campaigns to cement laptop and for limited-time sales.

Although the potential is there, some mobile experts think that it is too early for consumers to be buying big-ticket items such as tech gadgets from their handsets.

“Mobile still has a way to go to overcome brick-and-mortars in reducing friction to purchase,” Mr. Busteed said.

“While disruptive technologies from Google, PayPal, Facebook and Amazon are showing potential in mobile commerce, there are still benefits to be gained when the consumer is able to touch and feel these products,” he said.

“The tide is shifting however as new technologies come out making it easier to make purchases that are delivered directly to the consumer’s home. The next steps in this area will be creating easier user identification and payment capture, ease of use will improve dramatically and enhancements in the in-store experience to assist shoppers make more informed decisions.”

Final Take
Lauren Johnson is editorial assistant on Mobile Commerce Daily, New York