Author: Stephen

Retailer finds success in mobile payments

| December 10, 2013

eBay reports strong activity over holiday shopping weekend

Retail giant eBay has reported impressive growth over the recent holiday shopping weekend, extending from Thanksgiving Day to Cyber Monday. The retailer has been quite cavalier with its approach to the holiday season in the past, making aggressive efforts to engage consumers and provide them with reasons to shop online rather than visit physical stores. This year has proven no different, but eBay has been putting a bolder emphasis on mobile commerce in the hopes of engaging the growing number of consumers with mobile devices.

Consumers show their proclivity for mobile shopping

According to eBay, mobile commerce volume, in terms of transactions, grew by 96% over the holiday shopping weekend. PayPal processed the vast majority of the mobile transactions being made during this period, reporting a 115% increase in mobile spending. PayPal notes that Cyber Monday represented the most active day, in terms of mobile payments, it had ever experienced in its history.

eBay predicts $20 billion in mobile payments for 2013

Mobile Payments - eBayThe holiday season is not over, of course, and shopping is expected to continue being a high priority for many consumers through the end of December. eBay anticipates that it will handle some $20 billion in mobile payments this year, with the majority of these payments coming from the holiday season. The retailer has been working to encourage consumers to make mobile payments throughout 2013 and has managed to find some success in this endeavor with the help of PayPal.

NFC alternatives provide consumers with more options

PayPal has become quite powerful in the mobile commerce sector, as it has offered a payment solution that is not based on NFC technology. Payment platforms that make use of NFC technology can typically only be accessed by NFC-enabled devices, which are not abundantly available to consumers currently. PayPal, and other companies interested in mobile commerce, have been working to provide consumers with an alternative to NFC in order to make it easier for them to make mobile payments.

Mobile commerce hits record high on Black Friday

| December 5, 2013

Report highlights the growth of mobile sales and traffic

IBM has released a new report concerning the performance of e-commerce on Thanksgiving and Black Friday of this year. The report shows that online sales reached new heights this year, with mobile sales showing record growth. Retailers had been anticipating that mobile commerce would have a strong showing during the 2013 holiday shopping season, but many have been surprised at just how many people have taken to shopping from their mobile devices this year.

Black Friday proves popular with mobile shoppers

According to IBM’s report, the average order value for online consumers was $135.57 on Thanksgiving Day, a 2.2% increase over what order value had been reported in 2012. Thanksgiving Day saw the greatest degree of foot traffic to physical stores, but consumers opted to shop from their mobile devices during Black Friday. The report shows that mobile traffic to retail websites grew by 39%. Mobile sales also showed healthy growth, with sales spiking 43% over what they had been on Black Friday of 2012.

Smartphones are leading the charge in mobile commerce

Mobile Commerce - Black Friday Sales 2013Smartphones were the most popular mobile commerce platform for most consumers. Many favored iOS devices for their mobile shopping forays, but Android devices have been growing more popular for mobile commerce in recent months. The report shows that the majority of mobile sales came from consumers based in Atlanta, Georgia.

Efforts of retailers may be paying off

Retailers have been hard at work trying to engage mobile consumers. Throughout 2013, many retailers have been teaming with mobile commerce firms in order to provide consumers with different and more convenient ways to shop and pay for products. In order to entice consumers, many retailers have been offering special discounts specifically for mobile shoppers. These initiatives have proven quite effective, as IBM’s report shows the strong growth in mobile sales and traffic that have been reported this year.