The true start to the purchasing season over smartphones and tablets is expected to kick off on the holiday itself.
Although the tradition was once to get together with family on Thanksgiving day and to shop for deals on Black Friday, things have changed with the addition of m-commerce and the internet as a growing number of people finish their meals and sign on to start their bargain hunting right away.
The new attitude is that there is no reason to wait when they have the shop sitting right there in their hand.
M-commerce is not only redefining the way that people behave over the Thanksgiving holiday, but it is also turning holiday shopping patterns on their head. Every year, new trends are being identified and monitored in order to help to better predict what will happen the year afterward. As mobile commerce is a relatively new channel that is taking off very quickly, many retailers are scrambling to know what to do and when to place the main target on consumers.
This year, m-commerce trends suggest that retailers that wait for Cyber Monday may have waited too long.
It isn’t that consumers won’t be signing on to the internet on Cyber Monday. In fact, the vast majority of online shoppers will likely focus on that day when they are sitting in front of their desktops and laptops – which represents most of the consumers that will be shopping online for deals. However, when it comes to the massively growing number of shoppers that will be buying their products and services over m-commerce, they may still be feeling stuffed from their turkey dinner when they use their smartphones and tablets to check out what’s available.
According to the principal analyst of digital index at Adobe, Tyler White, “The change happened when people had mobile devices in their hands. People want to be with their families, but if you’re bored with the football game, you start shopping. Mobile is driving the growth on Thanksgiving.” Though it is anticipated that retail revenue overall will likely remain flat this year, the sales that are occurring from Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday are expected by Adobe to break records in its growth, particularly over m-commerce.
Burst Media has released the results of its annual holiday survey, indicating that consumers are prepped with their smartphones.
The latest annual holiday survey from Burst Media has revealed that consumers are already getting ready to start their shopping during the heaviest season of the year, and that while they plan to head to brick and mortar shopping malls and online shops, alike, they will be using mobile commerce in a number of different ways to help them throughout their purchasing journeys.
This year’s calendar has shaken up the pattern of events when compared to previous recent years.
For instance, this year, Hanukkah will be starting ahead of Thanksgiving, and for the first time since 2008, Cyber Monday will be occurring in December. This could be a defining pattern, particularly when it comes to mobile commerce, as it was barely in existence the last time this happened, so this year will present the first real data regarding what retailers can expect when online shopping kicks off when December has already started, and after Hanukkah is already in full swing.
The survey provided a considerable amount of online and mobile commerce insight for this year’s season.
Among the key findings of the holiday shopping and mobile commerce survey from Burst Media are the following:
• Marketers have time on their sides. Among the respondents of the survey, a large portion (40 percent) begin their holiday shopping following their Thanksgiving celebrations. Only 14.3 percent have already begun, and 11.8 percent started just after Halloween.
• Smartphones and tablets are playing an increasing role in the overall shopping process. Among the respondents, 45.7 percent use smartphones, and 41.3 percent use tablets for online browsing and shopping for holiday gifts and products. This is far greater than last year’s statistics.
• Mobile commerce apps will play an important part in the shopping this season, as 54.6 percent of women and 41.9 percent of men use shopping apps at least somewhat frequently – far more than in 2012.
• Smartphones are helping with shopping in brick and mortar shops, as 40.3 percent of the respondents use their devices while inside the stores to assist in their decision making.
• Parents are using mobile commerce to comparison shop for better prices while inside brick and mortar retail locations. This was the case among 64.5 percent of moms and 63.2 percent of dads.
