Tag: mobile holiday shopping

The holidays add more momentum to mobile commerce

Consumers in Europe may be getting a head start on their holiday shopping. Many people have been flooding retail sites on their mobile devices in order to get some of their holiday shopping done early. While retailers have not yet begun to provide the special offers that have become common for the holidays, many of these companies are offering some special discounts to those that participate in mobile commerce. A new report from Adobe predicts that mobile commerce will have a major impact on this year’s holiday season.

Report highlights the growth of mobile sales and online traffic

According to the Adobe Digital Index 2013 Online Shopping Forecast, approximately 12.4% of all online sales in eleven European countries are expected to come from smartphones and tablets. This is a 68% increase over what had been reported in the previous year. Smartphones are expected to be the platform through which the majority of mobile sales are made, with tablets following closely behind. The report suggests that December 9, 2013, will be the highest grossing online shopping day, with the following week being the highest grossing week for retailers in Europe.

Consumers favor convenience of mobile commerce

Mobile commerce is cited as one of the caused behind this growth in online sales and online retail traffic. Consumers have become enthralled with the concept of mobile commerce because of the convenience that it represents. Mobile shopping allows consumers to avoid visiting physical stores, thereby avoiding crowds and expediting the shopping experience. Mobile commerce has proven so convenient that many consumers are opting to get their shopping done before the holidays even begin. These people are willing to forgo the special deals being offered by retailers during the holiday season in order to get their shopping done ahead of time.

Retailers continue to bolster their mobile platforms

Mobile commerce is expected to have a prominent impact on the retail industries in Austria, France, Germany, Denmark, and the United Kingdom, as well as other countries. The 2012 holiday season showcased the power that mobile commerce has over consumers, and retailers have spent much of 2013 preparing their mobile platforms in order to take advantage of the continued growth of mobile commerce among consumers.

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.