New Salmon data suggests that more online shoppers are looking to smartphones and tablets.
Salmon has released the results of its new research, showing that holiday season m-commerce rose by 26 percent this year. The Christmas shopping period has had U.K. shoppers turning to their smartphones and tablets to check prices, products and even to buy.
The increases began on Black Friday when mobile orders spiked with the launch of the shopping season.
According to Salmon research data, 53 percent of survey respondents said holiday season m-commerce made their shopping “easier and more convenient.” Another 57 percent of consumers in the U.K. said they would be prepared to embrace automated purchasing called Programmatic Commerce within 2 years.
On average, consumers in the United Kingdom were shopping online nine times per week, but this increased throughout the holiday shopping season. Mobile traffic increases suggests that consumers used m-commerce to fit their gift shopping into their very busy schedules.
As holiday season m-commerce approached Christmas, it continued to grow in its use.
Salmon recorded a growing shift toward mobile traffic and orders the nearer Christmas approached. Ever since Black Friday, mobile devices were leading in online retail traffic. Of all online traffic, 53 percent came from smartphones alone. In total, smartphones and tablets represented 68 percent of the traffic recorded at retail sites.
On the whole, this represents a 26 percent increase in the amount of retail mobile traffic when compared to 2015. This closely reflects the increase in mobile commerce use that was established on Black Friday, when 68 percent of the online retail traffic and 51.2 percent of the online orders came from smartphones and tablets. This represented the first year that mobile devices brought in more sales than desktops and laptops.
Comparatively, the holiday season m-commerce growth rate had been 14 percent more online orders than the figures from 2014. More than 8 million people throughout the United Kingdom have been using digital technology to shop on a daily basis. That represents 16 percent of the country’s population. Forty nine percent of the Salmon survey respondents said that technology (including smartphones, tablets, laptops, desktops and others) has “made the shopping process faster.”
The Android mobile app and service is letting kids of all ages check on what Old Saint Nick is up to.
Christmas is creeping up fast and as Santa and his elves make last minute preparations, Google Assistant is allowing kids to check up on jolly old Saint Nick. The popular Santa Tracker has been worked into the artificial intelligence-powered digital personal assistant app. Kids of all ages can now say “Track Santa” or ask “Where is Santa” and find out the latest about Father Christmas.
At the moment, the Assistant is providing text answers to the question, though full maps are available.
For instance, when using the mobile app or desktop site instead of Google Assistant, a full map response is provided to the inquiry about Santa’s location. That said, the Assistant has a few additional lighthearted options, such as a number of different Santa-themed jokes.
The majority of the responses currently shared about Santa’s location have to do with the last minute preparations he is making with his elves. For instance, one reply from the Santa Tracker indicates that he just finished checking the weather reports for Christmas Eve.
The Google Assistant app is available for mobile devices based on the Android operating system.
Typically, the Assistant helps mobile device users to be able to conduct internet searches, to look through their pictures or complete a range of other basic tasks. However, for the holiday season, Google’s Santa tracking system has been integrated into the Assistant to allow users to find out when he might be flying near to their location.
That said, the holiday features aren’t just exclusive to people who celebrate Christmas during the holiday season. Google has also worked in a cute option meant for Jewish kids who are getting ready to celebrate Hanukkah, too. For instance, if you ask the Assistant to “spin the dreidel,” it provides a digital simulation of the spinning four-sided top. This can allow kids to play regardless of whether they happen to have an actual dreidel handy.
For mobile device users who have gadgets based on an operating system other than Android, the features Android users are enjoying with Google Assistant are still available. Google’s full Santa-tracking website is available for all smartphones, tablets and laptop/desktop users to be able to keep up with the very latest with the Jolly Old Elf.
