Black Friday through Cyber Monday has made it clear that smartphone shopping is a winner.
The first full weekend of holiday shopping has clearly shown that mobile commerce was a major player from Black Friday all the way through Cyber Monday, as consumers comparison shopped, read reviews, and made online purchases to avoid the lines.
For retailers, this channel represents a major shift in the way that they need to reach out to customers.
The success of mobile commerce so far has been tremendous in virtually all areas. In the payments area, PayPal reported that its volume spiked by 196 percent from 11am (PT) on Cyber Monday, when compared to the same day in 2011. Equally, on Black Friday, that unit of eBay also saw a spike of 173 percent over smartphones and tablets.
When this year’s Black Friday is compared to that of 2011, mobile commerce volume increased by 193 percent.
On that day, nearly a quarter (24 percent) of all consumers used their smartphones or tablets in some way while visiting an online retailer’s mobile commerce website. This is an increase over 14.3 percent when compared to the same time in 2011, said an IBM report. Last year mobile sales had reached 9.8 percent, but this year they rose to over 16 percent.
Braintree, an online payments startup, experienced even greater mobile commerce increases. They found that 50 percent more of their customers were using smartphones and tablets to buy products and services. Of all of the purchases tracked by the company, 29 percent came from portable gadgets, reaching their highest point on Cyber Monday. Some of its clients include Fab, ModCloth, and LivingSocial.
The Etsy website saw an increase in mobile commerce visitors to the point that they represented nearly one in every three visitors. On a typical day, they would usually represent only one in every four visitors. Equally, tablet devices made up 30 percent of the visits over a mobile device.
Similarly, Fab, the design retailer, saw 30 percent of its Black Friday online orders from mobile commerce sources. This represented 35 of the revenue they generated that day.