The point of purchase today can be anywhere and anytime, so the key to success will be engagement.

Mobile devices are fundamentally shifting the way consumers behave, and marketers in 2013 can’t keep up with the deluge: More than 1 million apps, more than 150 million tablets sold, and more than 1 billion smartphones in use globally. So reports Forrester in its 2013 Mobile Trends for Marketers.

• Immediacy and convenience are altering people’s behavior. Today’s engagements are a series of message exchanges — e.g., “Where are you?” “There in 10.” Leaving plans in flux, people take their behavior with them as they shop, bank and travel.

• Ubiquity profoundly disrupts business models. Mobile phones have replaced cameras, maps, cash registers, TV remotes and portable gaming devices, and they are supplanting ATMs for check deposits and printouts for boarding passes, tickets and coupons.

What all this means to you: Your organization’s investment in mobile communications (web services, analytics, and data in real time) must increase with the complexity, so treat it as a strategic priority. Forrester predicts mobile will be more disruptive than the PC Web was a decade ago.

• Consumers are task-oriented with their devices, so they expect simplicity.

• They seek out rich contextual experiences, so content and services must be relevant.

• Privacy, identity and security issues will continue to grow significantly, as mobile phones and tablet apps serve as interfaces to collect and process data.

Opportunities:

• Real-time interaction.

• Contextual pricing and premium services.

• New engagement scenarios.

• Anticipation of customers’ needs, in order to simplify and complete their tasks. — Maxine Golding