Tag: mcommerce

UK shoppers are turning to mobile commerce this holiday season

Consumers in the United Kingdom will spend an estimated £2.3 billion making purchases on smartphones and tablets.

Recent statistics released by a forecast from Adobe have shown that shoppers in the United Kingdom will be using mobile commerce this year more than ever before when it comes to buying everything they need for their Christmas celebrations.

The prediction from the forecast is that m-commerce will comprise 23 percent of all online holiday shopping.

That percentage will mean that about £2.3 billion of holiday purchases in the United Kingdom will have been made over mobile commerce, this year. The Adobe study predicts that sales overall will also increase by 7 percent when compared to last year, bringing the total to a hefty £17.7 billion. Online shopping will make up about 57 percent of that total figure. The U.K. will also experience the largest one-day shopping peak online when compared to all European countries. The prediction is that “Black Friday” on November 27 will generate £474 in online sales. The average spending across the country will be £8.06 per person on that one day.

The portion of the spending that will occur over mobile commerce has never been higher in the U.K.

Mobile Commerce - UK Holiday ShoppingMark Zablan, the president of Adobe EMEA, said that “This year’s report once again underscores the importance of the Christmas shopping season as a driver for eCommerce across Europe, giving consumers the ability to take advantage of low prices, retailer offers and product variety without battling crowds on the High Street.”

That said, Zablan also pointed out that consumers are looking for more than a great deal. The Adobe report underscored the importance of being able to obtain access to product reviews in order to make their buying choices. Social media is also expected to continue to play a vital role in the decision making process for Christmas present shopping.

He indicated that European retailers will want to pay close attention to those insights, as it means that they will need to go beyond simply advertising that they have the best deals. They will be required to “create meaningful opportunities to engage with consumers throughout the customer journey that will drive them to the point of purchase.” In that effort, Zablan said that social media will be a central mobile commerce player.

Customers prefer moments of mobile commerce than marathons on Black Friday

A growing number of shoppers are using smartphones to buy products they want during the holiday season.

According to Google, a rising number of consumers are choosing to skip the long Black Friday marathon shopping experiences for small bursts of mobile commerce purchasing through the use of their smartphones.

These m-commerce purchases occur in scattered moments over time instead of all at once as is the Black Friday tradition.

Google has labeled these little bursts of mobile commerce shopping as “micro-moments”. In its blog, the company predicted that “This holiday season, shopping ‘moments’ will replace shopping ‘marathons,’.”

Approximately 54 percent of shoppers who will be making purchases this holiday season have said that they plan to do some of their shopping on their smartphones during periods of free time, such as while they are eating breakfast in the morning or during their daily commute, said Google. This data was generated through an analysis conducted between that company and Ipsos MediaCT from a consumer survey on their holiday season shopping behaviors.

The research showed that people would rather use mobile commerce and are less likely to take marathon in-person trips.

Mobile Commerce - Mobile Shopping Preferred Over Traditional Black Friday ShoppingLast year, Google observed a steady increase in mobile shopping throughout the length of the holiday season and noted a decrease in the number of spikes on the traditionally preferred shopping days such as Black Friday morning.

The company explained in its blog that “This type of shopping has lead to shorter, more purposeful mobile shopping sessions.” It also went on to say that “In fact, while shoppers now spend 7% less time in each mobile session, smartphone’s share of online shopping purchases has gone up 64% over the last year, and 30% of all online shopping purchases now happen on mobile phones.”

Ahead of the Thanksgiving weekend, approximately 61 percent of holiday shoppers will already begin researching the products that they are thinking about buying. That is an increase of 17 percent over last year, despite the fact that Thanksgiving fell very late in the season in 2014. That said, Google still pointed out that while shoppers may start researching early, most purchases will still happen later on in the holiday season.