Mobile shoppers won’t wait for Black Friday to start holiday shopping

PayPal has stated that they don’t believe mobile shoppers have any intention of waiting for Black Friday before they begin their holiday shopping this year.

Instead, PayPal believes that the day before Thanksgiving will announce the start of the mobile shopping season. This will bring about the first wave of hunters who will be out looking for great products at the right price. Experienced shoppers won’t wait for shopping days like Cyber Monday, as previous years have shown those manufactured days to be more hype than anything else.

The online payment company has identified an emerging mobile shopping trend that will lead tablet and smartphone users to purchase gifts on Thanksgiving at about the time that their meal is complete.

Laura Chambers, the senior director of PayPal Mobile, has labeled it “couch commerce” and believes that its first significant holiday shopping spike will occur well before Black Friday.

She stated that this forecast is based on the patterns that have been developing over the last few years as well as a recent survey of PayPal customers that was recently conducted. This indicated that after people have finished their Thanksgiving dinner, they will likely sit back on the couch and use their mobile devices to start browsing and purchasing. This is leading retailers to consider extending offers specifically to those shoppers.

The survey also showed that:

• 46 percent intend to do some holiday shopping using a mobile device.
• Over 60 percent of mobile shoppers will make their purchase from home.
• Almost one in four mobile shoppers will spend over $100.
• 35 percent of mobile purchases are made on impulse.