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October 13, 2025
Is Mobile Underrated or Overrated as a Holiday Shopping Driver?
Mobile devices are expected to continue to cement their position as the dominant holiday online shopping platform this season. Adobe predicts mobile sales will drive 56.1% of online spend (vs. desktop shopping) during the 2025 holiday season, up from 54.5% last year — and just 40% of online spend during the 2020 holiday season.
Spending originating from mobile devices is expected to jump 8.5% year-over-year this holiday season (Nov. 1 to Dec. 31), helping drive overall U.S. online sales over the holidays by 5.3%, to $253.4 billion.
Social media is expected to be a key underlying driver of mobile purchases over the holiday.
Adobe’s research predicts social media advertising will drive a 51% year-over-year increase in holiday online revenue, up from 5% year-over-year growth in 2024. Affiliate and influencer-driven sales are expected to expand 14%, up from 6% growth in the 2024 holiday season.
Adobe said, “While major channels such as paid search and email continue to be reliable drivers of traffic and sales online, consumers are increasingly turning to social media to discover and learn about new products.”
Also increasing the appeal of online shopping are Gen AI-boosted chat services and browsers. Gen AI-powered shopping traffic is expected to surge 520% year-on-year, following a 1,300% surge a year ago. According to an Adobe survey of 5,000 U.S. adults taken in September, over one-third have used an AI-powered service for online shopping, with top use cases including research (cited by 53%), product recommendations (40%), finding deals (36%), and gift inspiration (30%).
Mobile Use, as a Tool, Increases In-Store as Well
Surveys also show consumers increasing using their mobile device as a shopping tool inside stores.
Ryder’s 10th annual e-commerce consumer study that came out last year found shoppers use their mobile phones while in stores to search for items, cited by 77%; to compare prices with items in nearby stores, 69%; to check availability at other stores, 58%; to learn more about a product, 31%; and to see other items frequently purchased with a product they’re considering, 17%.
Still, research from software company Quantum Metric last year found mobile facing challenges driving conversion on devices. The survey of 1,600 U.S. and U.K. consumers found that while 75% of consumers browse on mobile devices multiple times a day, only 26% make purchases through their phones daily.
The key cause of distrust and discomfort on mobile in making purchases is errors that cause inaccuracies or roadblocks (43%), followed by a lack of tools compared to desktop (33%), and security concerns (25%).
Discussion Questions
Will mobile take another leap in supporting discovery and actual purchases this coming holiday season?
What’s driving its increased use, if at all, as a shopping tool?
Poll
Loading …BrainTrust
Shep Hyken
Chief Amazement Officer, Shepard Presentations, LLC
Frank Margolis
Executive Director, Growth Marketing & Business Development, Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions
Mohamed Amer, PhD
CEO & Strategic Board Advisor, Strategy Doctor
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Mobile is used because of convenience and ease, which really comes into its own over the busy holiday period. Consumers use them to research on the go, and to check things like prices when in store. The downside, as ever, is that some sites and functions are not optimized for mobile.
Parsing thru the numbers, it’s apparent that mobile drives the most transactions by number, but not by volume (aggregate spending); in short it’s used for smaller, impusive buys. And that totally makes sense; I don’t expect to see significant changes, since (IMHO at least) by its nature it’s ill-suited for complex, research-oriented buying.
Mobile is poised to take another significant leap this holiday season as a driver of both discovery and purchase. According to Adobe, mobile devices are forecast to generate 56.1 % of online holiday revenue from November 1 to December 31, 2025, with approximately 70 % of retail site visits occurring via mobile devices. Data from eMarketer supports this trend, projecting that more than half (52.7 %) of U.S. holiday e-commerce sales will come via mobile, and that mobile will account for 75.6 % of the net increase in holiday e-commerce growth.
Several forces are driving mobile’s growing role as a shopping tool. First, convenience: shoppers carry their phones everywhere, enabling “micro-moments” of inspiration-to-purchase anytime, anywhere. For example, one source finds that 74 % of U.S. consumers used their mobile device for product research while shopping in-store.
Second, mobile experiences have matured—apps and mobile sites are faster, more integrated with payment methods like digital wallets, and increasingly built for conversion rather than just browsing.
Third, mobile is tightly integrated with discovery channels: social media, short-form video, push notifications, and in-app shopping features feed directly into mobile commerce.
Finally, mobile supports the full omnichannel loop (browse → buy → pickup/return) which is increasingly important in holiday periods where convenience and flexibility win.
In short: mobile is no longer a secondary channel—it’s becoming the strategic digital front door for holiday commerce. Retailers that treat mobile as a separate checkout channel risk falling behind. Those that optimise for mobile discovery, seamless checkout, real-time personalization and mobile-enabled fulfilment (store pickup, same-day delivery) stand to capture a disproportionate share of holiday spend in my view.
Mobile’s utility is in its convenience – perfect for researching and price comparisons. For in-depth research, computers still reign; and for large, complex purchases face-to-face with an expert is the way to go. So what’s the future of mobile? Aside from transactional, recurring purchases and the points made above, not much else.
The data is screaming: mobile isn’t underrated or overrated, it’s under-optimized. When Adobe projects mobile to capture 56% of online holiday spend, yet nearly half the customers experience friction, retailers are ignoring a business-critical reality. Mobile isn’t another channel; it’s the connective tissue that binds the entire shopping experience together. Time to stop thinking mobile in traditional transactional terms and start treating it as what it’s becoming: the always-on shopping companion.
Customers love convenience, and mobile offers it. It really is that simple. Go to the “little machine” in your pocket, navigate to your favorite brand’s or retailer’s website, and shop away. No longer do you have to deal with traffic to the mall, find a parking spot, and deal with long lines at the checkout counter… All thanks to mobile!
And one other consideration to consider. Even if the customer doesn’t buy through their mobile device, they may still do their research and browsing on mobile before heading to the store to make an informed purchase.
As more workers return to the office, they’ll seek time savings via mobile shopping, possibly during their commute. Also, ChatGPT keeps evolving as a retail solution provider by integrating product recommendations and in-app payment, which will boost mobile orders among its 700 million monthly users.
Much of the discussion with mobile discovery is focused on social media but I’d be interested in knowing how much of GEO discovery is mobile. Many of us use AI in our work but for impromptu discovery, I would bet an increasing number of people use ChatGPT or other apps on their phones when they need information on the spot. Walmart is betting on it 😉