Tag: mobile shopping

Cyber Monday becomes the most successful online retail day ever

Cyber Monday has come and gone in the U.S. and the mobile sector experienced impressive growth on what is widely considered to be the most important day in electronics retail. IBM has released a new report concerning Cyber Monday of 2013, suggesting that it has become the largest online shopping day in history. Mobile commerce played a major role in the success of Cyber Monday and consumers have shown their strong interest in shopping for products online using their mobile devices.

Consumers show favor for mobile shopping

Mobile commerce has become a major interest to the retail industry. Many retailers were encouraged to take the mobile sector more seriously after the holiday shopping seasons of 2011 and 2012. Over the past two years, consumers have shown that they are not only willing to shop online with their mobile device but are quite eager to do so because of the convenience that it represents.

Online sales reach new heights

According to the report from IBM, online shoppers in the U.S. spent more than $2 billion on Cyber Monday. A significant portion of this spending came from mobile devices. The report shows that online sales grew by 20% over what they had been on Cyber Monday in 2012. Consumers had reported that mobile shopping helped them avoid lines at physical stores and purchase products without having to worry about limited supplies.

Retailers show more interest in mobile commerce

Economic research firm IHS Global Insight released a report last week highlighting the growth of online sales during the 2013 holiday season. The report estimates that online sales for the whole of the holiday season will reach $81 billion by the end of this year. This represents a 12.5% increase in sales over what had been reported during the 2012 holiday season. Mobile commerce is expected to play a large role during the holiday season, especially as more consumers begin growing comfortable with the concept of purchasing products online with their mobile devices.

The weekend following Black Friday may have seen a dip in sales, but the week started off strong.

Massive discounts from Black Friday and the Thanksgiving weekend throughout the U.S., on retail sales, took quite a toll, to the point that consumers spent nearly 3 percent less than they did last year, but Cyber Monday m-commerce data looks as though it may be turning that trend around.

The data was recently reported by an industry group and has revealed that online purchases were strong.

This may be an indication that while brick and mortar retailers could be facing a more difficult season, this year, Cyber Monday m-commerce and overall online shopping experienced soaring sales, which could help to make up for the lower figures from the days before. The National Retailer Federation had estimated that the weekend average spending per shopper would be about $407.02. When compared to last year at the same time, that would be 3.9 percent less due to the lower prices. The group suggested that if the prices stay down, the trend will last the rest of the way through the holiday season.

Cyber Monday m-commerce did prove to have powerful numbers, but it still represents only a fraction of overall spending.

According to the chief executive of the National Retail Federation, Matthew Shay, “Retailers will continue to aggressively promote their in-store and online offerings, looking to entice today’s very budget-conscious and value-focused shopper.” Data from Shay’s organization said that there were 141 million people in the United States who shopped at least one time over the weekend. This is an increase over the 139 million who did so last year. However, the total spending had been expected to hit $57.4 billion over the four days from Black Friday through Cyber Monday, which was a decrease of 2.8 percent when compared to the same four day period in 2012.

Analysts explained that the massive deals that drew large numbers of consumers shrank the sales and put a dent into the retail profit margins. Although the sales have been rising – particularly with the Cyber Monday m-commerce data being included into the mix, when all was said and done, the gross margins were headed downward.