With digital commerce emerging as a top priority for marketers, Gartner has highlighted how digital marketing is becoming mainstream.
According to Gartner’s 2015-2016 Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Spend Survey, 98% of marketers believe that the differences between online and offline is blurring.
Marketers surveyed from the UK and US said digital commerce has now grabbed 11% of the digital marketing budget.
10% of marketers claim that they have even moved beyond digital marketing techniques and are expanding marketing’s role to create new digitally led business models.
The survey found out that marketing budgets have increased 10% in 2015, and 61% of the respondents claimed that they expect marketing budgets to increase again in 2016.
According to Gartner, B2B companies are following the footsteps of B2C companies to reach customers directly through digital commerce initiatives in order to understand the needs, preferences and behaviors of their customers.
Around 61% of respondents claimed that their marketing spending will be around 11% of company revenue, up by 1% when compared to last year, which represents a sizable increase.
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Gartner research vice president Jake Sorofman said: "The rise in digital commerce is an opportunity for marketers.
"There was a time when marketing and selling were two distinct disciplines. In many cases, digital merges these two into a single, continuous activity from initial awareness, through engagement, conversion, transaction and repeat purchase. Marketers can now tie spend to revenue. In fact, it’s becoming a mandate."
The survey also found out that two factors that are acting as driving force behind marketers’ interest in digital commerce which includes the need to point to tangible results from marketing investments, and the recognition that companies get.
