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.
Ticket Monster has experienced year on year billings growth that has been steady and consistent, as its annual figures have come in at $800 million. It was the mobile commerce success, however, that caught the eye of Groupon and that drew it for purchase. The reason is that more than half of the Asian company’s purchases originate from smartphones or tablets. The company currently boasts over 1,000 employees and has over 4 million active customers.