Tag: mobile shopping

Sales almost doubled over the holiday shopping season in 2014, when compared to the year before.

According to E-bit, a Brazilian e-commerce consultancy, sales that were made over mobile commerce in the country, during the Christmas shopping season, almost doubled in 2014 when compared to the figures that were produced during that same span of time in 2013.

From November 15 through December 24, there was an increase of 96 percent in m-commerce purchases.

The purchases made over mobile commerce represented 8.8 percent of the total online sales that were experienced in the country. Comparatively, in 2013, smartphone and tablet based shopping made up only 4.5 percent of the total online sales, during the same period of time. When it came to revenue, m-commerce also made up 8.8 percent of the total during the holiday shopping period. This represented an increase of 82 percent over the figure generated by the firm in 2013.

A considerable part of the growth in Brazil’s mobile commerce figures were the result of Black Friday’s sales.

E-bit reported that on that one day alone, there was a growth of 609 percent over m-commerce, when compared to Black Friday in 2013. The director of the firm, Pedro Guasti, said that “The share of mobile devices in virtual shopping is already nearing 9%. New entrants – those with no Internet access, as well as those with access from computers – are now migrating to smartphones and tablets”

Among the main drivers of the use of mobile devices for shopping purposes has been their rapid and growing penetration throughout the country. As more consumers own smartphones and tablets, it has caused the amount of marketing and selling targeting consumers using those gadgets to rise considerably. This was made clear, recently, by the panel at the São Paulo based Mobile+ Forum.

Equally, the instability of the broadband connections in Brazil have the potential to frustrate possible customers and have, according to the forum’s panelists, led shoppers to abandon their shopping carts before their transactions are complete. This will clearly be an important hurdle for mobile commerce to overcome if it is to continue it staggering growth rate in the country.

Report shows that online spending will grow significantly during Christmas and Boxing Day

IMRG, an online retail association, along with Experian, have released a new report concerning the online retail spending in the United Kingdom. The report predicts that Christmas shopping will be particularly active this year, with approximately $650 million in spending coming in on Christmas Day and nearly $800 million coming in on Boxing Day, which follows Christmas. The report suggests that smartphones and tablets will be the driving forces behind holiday shopping.

Mobile commerce continues to gain momentum in the United Kingdom

Many consumers in the United Kingdom have become quite fond of mobile commerce. Using smartphones and tablets to shop online and at physical stores had once been a sort of gimmick that retailers had supported to set themselves apart from their competition. Now, retailers that do not support mobile payments in some fashion could be missing out on a major opportunity to engage consumers. As such, many retailers have begun embracing the mobile space over the past year, preparing themselves for the holiday shopping season.

Holidays may be a turning point for the retail industry

According to Powa Technologies, the holiday season will show that the retail industry must become more mobile-centric in the future. The company notes that a record $850 million was spent during Black Friday this year. This combined with the predicted $1.3 billion in online sales during Christmas and Boxing day may help retailers better understand the importance of the mobile space. As such, the holidays may serve as a major turning point for many retailers that have not yet been convinced of the value of mobile commerce.

Retailers that have mobile-centric promotional offers find more success among mobile consumers

A growing number of consumers are looking for discounts offered by retailers on their mobile devices. Some retailers have launched promotional initiatives in order to engage the mobile audience specifically. These retailers have found that they were able to attract the attention of mobile consumers more effectively, which increased mobile spending activity.