By Dave Porter

(AXcess News) Reno - Despite a clear distaste for the intrusive aspect of mobile advertising, online retailers are gearing up for what shop.org calls the state of online advertising.  According to the report, three-out-of-four online retailers re planning to implement a mobile advertising strategy.

According to the Study, which was conducted by Forrester, nearly three-quarters (74%) of online retailers either already have or are developing a mobile strategy. One in five boasts having a fully-implemented mobile strategy in place already.

Scott Silverman, Executive Director, Shop.org believes consumers want mobile ads.  "It's imperative for online retailers to stay on top of what their customers want and these days it's all mobile all the time."

Silverman clarified his comment by saying, "Mobile commerce has tremendous potential and will no doubt grow to become a significant part of overall sales volume in years to come. Whether to increase customer satisfaction, grow their brand or drive traffic and sales, online retailers are in this game to stay."

While Shop.org noted Forrester's earlier estimate of online ad sales growing to $173 billion in the US alone, the Report failed to provide a forecast for mobile ads of that amount, though the Researcher noted that on average, $170,000 per online retailer is expected to be spent on mobile sites this year with larger retailers spending much more.

"Mobile investment is modest now, but we see that it will pick up in the future, especially among the biggest brands that have already invested significant amounts in their mobile operations," said Sucharita Mulpuru, Vice President, Principal Analyst, Forrester Research, and lead author of the report.

Forrester noted that search advertising will continue to command the largest portion of US online retail budgets this year, coming in at 40 percent.  Email and affiliate marketing will command the largest portion, the report notes.

Social marketing is also fast coming to the forefront with 80 percent of online retailers planning to invest in that arena - but ROI "remains murky", Shop.org notes.  Listening to customers is the most significant objective for social tools according to respondents, with 80 percent of retailers reporting that they are pursuing social strategies to experiment and learn. And while 28 percent noted that social marketing has helped grow their business, direct sales from social tactics are not widely measured.