Tag: 2012 holiday season

Mobile shopping to see major growth during holiday season

| November 21, 2012

 

Mobile ShoppingThanksgiving may be the holiday for mobile shopping

Black Friday and Cyber Monday are fast approaching. Both days are very important for physical retailers and online businesses as sales made on these days can more than make up for an entire year of lackluster performance. Black Friday and Cyber Monday have been major holidays for the retail industry and e-commerce respectively, but the growing prevalence of mobile commerce and technology may establish a similar day that could be a major boon for mobile shopping.

More consumers showing interest in mobile shopping

Thanksgiving is a well known holiday in the U.S. As such, the holiday typically means that traditional brick and mortar stores are closed for business. Online retailers, however, remain open throughout the holiday, providing consumers with services that they might not be able to find from physical stores. According to data from IBM/Coremetrics, 15% of U.S. consumers used their mobile devices to visit retail sites on Thanksgiving in 2011, up from the 6.5% that did so in 2010.

Digitas survey shows growing support for mobile commerce and e-commerce

This trend is expected to continue this year, with the possibility of mobile traffic increasing by as much as double for some retailers. Companies like eBay already have plans to begin offering deals on Thanksgiving day, rather than wait for Black Friday or Cyber Monday. According to a recent survey from Digitas, a provider of integrated technology and marketing solutions, shows that many retailers are preparing to serve mobile consumers on Thanksgiving, following the same route as eBay in offering mobile applications that will assist with online shopping.

Survey shows shopping from computer is easier than from mobile device

The Digitas survey does shed some light on the problems facing mobile shopping, however. The survey notes that approximately 76% of the 2,059 respondents surveyed say that shopping from a computer is much easier than from a mobile device. Many consumers attribute the difficulty associated with mobile shopping to the small screens of most mobile devices. Nonetheless, consumers are still likely to heavily participate in mobile shopping during the holiday season.

Mobile commerce to play large role in holiday season

| November 14, 2012

 

Wal-Mart sees mobile commerce as a major part of its holiday season

The holiday season is here and tWalmart mobile commercehat is good news for retailers. Thanksgiving and Christmas are two of the biggest holidays for the retail industry because these are days in which these companies see the most traffic, both digital and physical. Retailers have been seeing a growing trend amongst consumers that suggests that mobile commerce is becoming a popular way to purchase products. Wal-Mart, one of the world’s largest retail companies, notes that this interest in mobile commerce is gaining a massive amount of momentum amongst consumers and may have a significant presence during the 2012 holiday season.

Retailer expects sizable portion of traffic will come from mobile consumers

Wal-Mart senior vice president of mobile and digital strategy Gibu Thomas suggests that a sizable portion of the company’s consumers will make purchases from smart phones, tablets, and other mobile devices this year. The retailer has been tracking the growing popularity of mobile commerce within its stores throughout the year and saw significant mobile traffic during the 2011 holiday season. As such, Wal-Mart stores are beginning to find new ways to provide service to consumers that would rather make use of mobile commerce platforms and shopping applications.

40% of shoppers expected to be mobile

Thomas suggests that more than 40% of shoppers visiting Wal-Mart stores will do so electronically during the 2012 holiday season. The retail giant sees this as a promising opportunity and has begun working to revamp its mobile shopping application, which has been downloaded millions of times all over the world. The application will receive updates that will make it more inclusive of mobile commerce and marketing in the hopes of engaging consumers that favor their mobile device over traditional forms of commerce.

Wal-Mart throws more support behind its mobile commerce efforts

Wal-Mart already boasts of a strong Internet presence and has managed to cater well to mobile consumers. Mobile commerce has, however, been relatively low on the retailer’s priority list until very recently. The company is seeing more people adopt mobile commerce platform and is keen to not be left behind by these consumers over a matter of service. As such, Wal-Mart is committed to finding ways to engage these consumers and provide them with services they want to see.