• by Sarah Mahoney  @mahoney_sarah, November 11, 2011

Retailers are committed to beefing up their digital marketing budgets in 2012, with paid search, email, and SEO/natural search leading the way.

The survey of 110 leading retailers, done by the E-tailing Group, an e-commerce consulting company and sponsored by Bronto Software, also found an intense effort among stores to improve their data analytics, in order to nail down the most profitable channels and adjust their marketing mix accordingly.

“Data is going to be the next big thing,” Lauren Freedman, founder of The E-Tailing Group, tells Marketing Daily. “Merchants are realizing that the state of their data determines the sophistication of experience they can give the customer. There’s a lot of work to be done in that area. Less than 10% believe they are in a good situation to tap into data they already have.”

She says the “workability” of data becomes even more important with social marketing. And those with a strong loyalty program already in place “have a huge leg up, because they do have the data.”

The survey, which combined both quantitative and qualitative merchant research, reports retailers intend to devote 30% of their digital marketing budget to paid search, 18% to email and 11% to SEO/natural search. And 31% of respondents say they expect SEO to generate the most revenue, 30% say mobile, and 22% email.

The report also found that 87% already use Facebook, with 8% planning to use it in the year ahead; and 29% already have an mcommerce site, with 42% planning to add that capability in the next 12 months. So far, 38% are using bar codes or QR codes, with another 31% looking to add them, and 19% are using mobile applications, with 27% planning to employ them in the coming year.