Mobile Holiday Shopping at an All Time High

Date Entry
November 30, 2018

Black Friday 2018 has come and gone, and the results are in - more and more consumers are placing their holiday gift orders through mobile devices.  According to Adobe Analytics, nearly half of this year's holiday browsing (not always resulting in a purchase) was placed on smartphones - while millions of dollars worth of orders were placed on devices.

Another darling of the holiday shopping season - Cyber Monday - saw 47% of its traffic and 36% of sales by way of smartphones.  Total phone-based sales topped $2.2 billion, a full $800 million more than in 2017.  Amazon reported that Cyber Monday 2018 was the best sales day in its history.  Its top items?  The new Echo Dot, Fire TV Stick 4K with Alexa voice remote, Fire 7 tablet, Amazon Smart Plug, Instant Pot and 23andMe DNA test.

Why the increase in sales?  Convenience, namely.  More and more retailers are optimizing their sites for smartphones, which in turn means easier sales (especially when a consumer cannot find a desired item locally).  Payment systems like Apple Pay and Google Pay also make transactions easier.  Previously, small screens and poor navigation made it worth the hassle for consumers to complete their purchases on computers, but now smartphones have near-tablet sized screens.

Phones as a shopping tool have become more and more ubiquitous in recent years, and those numbers continue to rise.  However, it's not yet known if it'll overtake desktops in total orders, but it's certainly on its way.  For 2018 alone, Adobe predicted that smartphones would account for 27% of revenue, a solid 12% more than last year.  Desktop's 63% of sales is still a lofty target, but with mobile, anything can happen.

This article was based on a November 27, 2018 CNet.com article by Ben Fox Rubin.

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