Tag: christmas shopping

New Salmon data suggests that more online shoppers are looking to smartphones and tablets.

Salmon has released the results of its new research, showing that holiday season m-commerce rose by 26 percent this year. The Christmas shopping period has had U.K. shoppers turning to their smartphones and tablets to check prices, products and even to buy.

The increases began on Black Friday when mobile orders spiked with the launch of the shopping season.

According to Salmon research data, 53 percent of survey respondents said holiday season m-commerce made their shopping “easier and more convenient.” Another 57 percent of consumers in the U.K. said they would be prepared to embrace automated purchasing called Programmatic Commerce within 2 years.

On average, consumers in the United Kingdom were shopping online nine times per week, but this increased throughout the holiday shopping season. Mobile traffic increases suggests that consumers used m-commerce to fit their gift shopping into their very busy schedules.

As holiday season m-commerce approached Christmas, it continued to grow in its use.

Salmon recorded a growing shift toward mobile traffic and orders the nearer Christmas approached. Ever since Black Friday, mobile devices were leading in online retail traffic. Of all online traffic, 53 percent came from smartphones alone. In total, smartphones and tablets represented 68 percent of the traffic recorded at retail sites.

On the whole, this represents a 26 percent increase in the amount of retail mobile traffic when compared to 2015. This closely reflects the increase in mobile commerce use that was established on Black Friday, when 68 percent of the online retail traffic and 51.2 percent of the online orders came from smartphones and tablets. This represented the first year that mobile devices brought in more sales than desktops and laptops.

Comparatively, the holiday season m-commerce growth rate had been 14 percent more online orders than the figures from 2014. More than 8 million people throughout the United Kingdom have been using digital technology to shop on a daily basis. That represents 16 percent of the country’s population. Forty nine percent of the Salmon survey respondents said that technology (including smartphones, tablets, laptops, desktops and others) has “made the shopping process faster.”

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.

Mark 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.