Again, the holiday wild card is mobile, both in how much it influences offline and online spending as well as how much purchasing gets done via that channel.
According to IBM's 2014 holiday shopping report, mobile browsing — both smartphones and tablets — is expected to account for 48.2 percent of all online traffic over the five-day period between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday, an increase of 23 percent over last year. Mobile is projected to account for 24.4 percent of all online sales over the five days, up 9.5 percent year-over-year.
But many mobile storylines are being explored this year in surveys, including:
Smartphones vs. tablets: According to IBM's survey, smartphones will account for 29 percent of all online traffic over the five-day Black Friday period versus 15 percent for tablets. However, tablets will account for twice as many mobile purchases than smartphones thanks to the larger screen size.
Smartphone shopping: According to RichRelevance, the online personalization engine, the top five reasons Millennials plan to use mobile phones this holiday are: to research, 51 percent; compare prices, 46 percent; browse, 44 percent; receive deals/coupons, 38 percent; and find nearby stores, 35 percent. In store, 62 percent of Millennials plan to use mobile phones to research versus 42 percent for all generations. Forty-two percent of Millennials would rather use their phone than find an associate versus 23 percent for middle-aged shoppers.
Smartphone purchases: According to RichRelevance, only 31 percent of Millennials plan to purchase holiday gifts with smartphones. The small screen was cited as the leading barrier to purchase by both Millennials, 74 percent, and middle-aged shoppers, 54 percent. The desire to see and touch an item ranked a distant second for Millennials, 41 percent.
Mobile pay: According to payment systems developer, Stratos, 30 percent of smartphone owners plan to use mobile payment offerings such as Apple Pay or Google Wallet for holiday shopping this year. Less than five percent were "more comfortable" paying with their devices than using traditional payment cards such as credit or debit cards.
Mobile retail marketing: According to Wanderful Media, the operator of the Find&Save coupon app, 51 percent of shoppers are "very interested" in receiving mobile notifications about holiday deals and sales. Twenty percent have already signed up to receive mobile sale alerts.
Social marketing: According to online advertising specialist, Spongecell, 75 percent of U.S. social media users who would interact with ads were most likely to do so with mobile ads on Facebook, compared with eight percent for Twitter and six percent for Pinterest.
Mobile discontent: According to online monitoring firm, Dynatrace, 46 percent of smartphone/tablet owners will holiday shop elsewhere if a mobile site or app fails to load in three seconds or less, up nine percent from last year.
- IBM Predicts Record Mobile Holiday Shopping as Consumers Browse and Buy on the Go - RichRelevance
- 30 percent of US Smartphone Owners to Use Apple Pay and Google Wallet during the Holidays - Stratos
- RichRelevance Study Reveals Mobile Generation Gap This Holiday - RichRelevance
- STUDY: 75 percent of Social Media Users Who Interact with Ads Would Do So with Facebook Mobile Ads- Allfacebook
- A Very Mobile Holiday Season: Smartphone and Tablet Shopping on Track to Unseat In-Store Shopping - Dynatrace
- New Placecast Study Indicates Half of All Americans Have Heard Of In-Store Beacons, and 15 Percent of Cell Phone Users Have Engaged with Them - Placecast
- Tenth Annual Holiday Season Survey Shows Mobile Devices are Effective in Engaging Shoppers and Steering Them Down the Path to Purchase - Burst Media/Rhythm NewMedia
- Mobile Shopping Hits Unprecedented Levels This Holiday Season - CFI Group
- Find&Save Annual Holiday Shopping Survey Reveals Increase in Mobile Shopping App Adoption - Wanderful Media
- ComScore Forecasts 16 Percent Growth to $61 Billion in 2014 U.S. Holiday E-Commerce Spending on Desktop and Mobile - comScore