Mobile commerce has arrived, and proved to be a game-changer this Cyber Weekend.
From Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday, the IBM Digital Analytics Benchmark showed that overall online sales increased 12.6%, with mobile sales up 27.2% compared to the same period in 2013.
As the new digital shopping companion for many consumers, smartphones drove 28.5% of all Cyber Monday online traffic, more than double that of tablets, which accounted for 12.5% of all traffic. Yet, when it comes to mobile sales, tablets continue to win the shopping war – driving 12.9% of online sales compared to 9.1% for smartphones, a difference of 41.5%. Tablet users also averaged $121.49 per order compared to $99.61 for smartphone users, a difference of 22%.
“For the first time, mobile devices drove more than half of Thanksgiving online traffic, a trend that continued throughout Cyber Weekend,” said Jay Henderson, Director of IBM Smarter Commerce. “As the holiday shopping season becomes less concentrated on a single day, retailers and marketers took advantage by making it easier for consumers to find the best deals on the go, whenever and wherever they chose to shop.”
Though the average percent increase in mobile sales this Cyber Weekend was in the high 20s, there were retailers who saw even stronger growth.
Platform provider MarketLive’s clients’ retail sales revenues from smartphones and tablets increased an average of 141% during the weekend following Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday.
“We have seen the volume of sales coming from mobile devices steadily increasing for the past year, and these most recent holiday results confirm the trend.” said Ken Burke, CEO and founder of MarketLive. “Shoppers are using smartphones with high-speed Internet connections to research and buy products, making shopping a true ‘on the go’ experience. Retailers need to embrace mobile in all aspects of their business.”
Flash-sales fashion merchant Rue La La saw a 68% increase in Thanksgiving Day mobile sales.
“On a typical week, we’ll do about 50% of our sales via a mobile device,” Rue La La CEO Steve Davis said. “But achieving 68% as we did on Thanksgiving just shows the ongoing adoption of that channel by consumers.”
Davis told Multichannel Merchant that Cyber Weekend 2014 was a giant mobile commerce story for Rue La La.
[VIDEO: Rue La La Sees Continuing Mobile Adoption]
“We did between 63% and 68% of our sales [via mobile] between Thanksgiving and Sunday, and on Cyber Monday we did 50% of our sales via the mobile device,” Davis said. “Mobile shopping has been an enormous phenomenon that drove all weekend, including Cyber Monday, where there was huge growth.”
eBags president and COO Rob Cassidy says his company’s Cyber Weekend mobile traffic was up 62% and mobile sales were up 73%. That is huge, Cassidy said, considering mobile went from about 6% of eBags’ sales to over 13% of its sales.
Though eBags got itself ready this year for the mobile customer, Cassidy was surprised at how much the mobile device has changed retail.
[VIDEO: Cyber Monday Still the King for eBags]
“We started this year with a committed energy towards mobile and making sure the mobile experience was tied in well with any device,” Cassidy said. “If a customer starts on mobile and finishes on a PC or a tablet, we wanted to make sure it was a seamless experience. I’m grateful that we made those investments.”
Mobile accounted for approximately 70% of traffic to Walmart.com between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday.
Just before the holiday season began. Walmart re-launched its app to include features such as an interactive circular and store maps that highlighted where 1-Hour Guarantee items, wristband items, and other hot products could be found in the store.
Imran Jooma, executive vice president of Sears Holdings, said Sears and Kmart stores saw a lot of mobile activity, but has not released any numbers as of yet.
“Mobile is experiencing tremendous growth as our integrated retail strategy gains traction, as we saw a significant increase in mobile site visits and member engagements on Thanksgiving Day, Black Friday and through the weekend,” Jooma said.