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The dominant theme for 2015 will be the effect of mobile on the customer journey. Here are five predictions for 2015.

The days of dabbling in mobile advertising are over. As I look ahead to 2015, I know one thing for certain: advertisers are going to demand more accuracy in how they match their mobile media spend to their results.

Fast delivery of high-quality content is essential during the busy holiday season. The simplest way to do this is by giving the consumer quick access to purchase the products that they desire.

As consumers we do not always realize that our addiction to multiple devices is quickly altering long-established approaches to advertising, media planning and success measurement.

It is not a significant jump to say that all mobile transactions will eventually be reduced to a single scan or tap. This is not just for payments, either – redeeming offers and earning loyalty currencies, all of it will happen seamlessly.

Finding the right audience for your app is not a trivial task. It requires blending high volume with high-value users. Adjusting these balances depending on your app’s lifecycle is paramount.

In 2015, the biggest challenge for luxury marketers will be to gain a much better understanding of what customers expect in terms of significantly improved customer experiences.

In 1498 Aldus Manutius of Venice produced a book catalog and used it to promote his recent publications. In itself that may not sound particularly interesting, but at the time this was a major advance in commerce: for the first time the prospective buyer did not need to be face to face with the merchant to browse, select and purchase goods. It was the first example of direct marketing.

Traditional marketing is becoming less powerful, interesting, accessible and useful to companies and prospects.

Last millisecond still exists, certainly, but the overwhelming convergence of mobile and in-store – consumers browsing on their smartphones, then shopping at a bricks-and-mortar location, mobile couponing or showrooming – gives the concept an entirely new context.

Marketing around the holiday season will always be a highly competitive and rather expensive undertaking, but it is a critical point in time for advertisers and one they cannot get wrong.

Movember has grown faster and bigger than a hormone-powered Fu Manchu. Now in its eleventh year, the phenomenon is not only a bona fide grassroots health awareness movement, it is a brilliantly executed marketing campaign.

As common sense as it may seem, mobile first is the wrong approach to take when designing for visual commerce elements such as video and spin photography.

Increased pressure from major industry competitors and mass channels is eroding Whole Foods’ product differentiation. Pricing premiums are harder to defend and many of Whole Foods’ customer experience differentiators are being adopted as competitors respond to changing customer preferences.

Returned goods cost United States retailers a staggering $267.3 billion in lost revenue last year, according to The Retail Equation. Now that is a harsh returns reality.

According to Forrester Research, United States mobile commerce is projected to hit $114 billion this year. With the idea of mobile shopping becoming more mainstream, consumers have become increasingly comfortable making payments on their phone and on the go.

Content marketing has shown tremendous growth in 2014, but what are some of the trends to look out for in 2015? How can brands and publishers take advantage of these trends?

Knowing customer preferences using mobile data can provide the fodder for mobile campaigns that are as personalized as the holiday lists that shoppers have stored on their smartphones and tablets.

If you ask most people to name the most expensive computing device they own, they will likely name their laptop or television. But for most Americans, the answer is actually sitting in their driveway.

The possibilities for iBeacons are countless, but the window to be an early adopter of this new technology is shrinking by the minute.

As impressive as mobile phone growth is over the next three years, there is a consumer behavioral shift that is equally as important to note.