Today, we’re looking at the latest news and trends on the impact of mobile commerce on holiday sales and e-commerce broadly. According to Deloitte research, holiday sales may reach $1 trillion, online $96 billion and digital may influence 67% or $661 billion. In the UK, mobile holiday sales will reach more than 50% of sales for the first time says a Salmon research report.
US retail mobile commerce sales may reach $123 billion in 2016 according to research from RichRelevance. The same report however said 38% of consumers are unhappy with search results on their mobile device. 66% of global consumers cross-border shop and 58% in Singapore use mobile to shop, 50% in India and 49% in Mexico.
A report from Liftoff says women are 86% more likely to purchase from a mobile app. In SE Asia, Criteo found 54% of sales were made on mobile devices, up 19%. Hitwise says 59% of online searches for coupons were made via mobile. Jo-Ann, Michaels, Hobby Lobby and JCPenney saw searches of 80% or more via mobile.
76% of mobile shoppers were reported to have changed their mind about buying a brand or shopping in a retail store following a Google search. Kantar Retail predicts online sales will be up 16%. Javelin Strategy & Research says $7 of every $10 spent online was made with a smartphone.
All-The-Time Mobile Shopping Heads Into Holidays; 56% Can’t Imagine Life Without Phone
As the annual mobile commerce benchmark of holiday shopping approaches, it looks like it could be yet another mobile moment. Various pre-holiday shopping studies are coming out providing some insight into where mobile may fit this time around.
This matters due to the massive size of spending over a relatively short period of time. Retail sales between last November and January totaled $969 billion, according to Deloitte, with projections of topping $1 trillion this time around. Online sales are forecast to top $96 billion, beating last year’s $82 billion spent, according to that same report.
While most of the dollars changing hands will happen in stores, digital interactions will influence 67%, or $661 billion, of those sales, according to Deloitte. Via mediapost.com
50 days to the start of ‘Black Fiveday’
With 50 days to go until Black Friday 2016, global ecommerce consultancy Salmon anticipates this year will be the tipping point for mobile in the UK.
This year Salmon – which accurately predicted that Black Friday 2015 would be the UK’s first £1 billion online shopping day – forecasts that 2016 will extend beyond just Black Friday with the first ever, £5 billion Black Fiveday week (24th – 28th Nov).
Having analysed data from the Salmon ‘Peak operations service’ and industry trends from 2015, Salmon projects this will be the first Black Friday period where mobile dominates online activity, overtaking desktop with a total of £2.55 billion Black Fiveday purchases made via mobile. Via internetretailing.net
How mobile is transforming product search
Search tools are especially critical to shopper satisfaction, according to a new study conducted by omnichannel personalization services provider RichRelevance. Among the roughly 1,000 U.S. online consumers surveyed last month, 83% said the search box is “important” or “extremely important” to them when shopping on a retailer’s web or mobile site, and 76% said they “always” or “often” use the search box when visiting a merchant site.
“Search is still the primary way that consumers are navigating, both to retailer sites and once they’re on the retailer’s site,” RichRelevance Chief Marketing Officer Diane Kegley told Retail Dive.
But search is struggling to keep up as consumers migrate to mobile. U.S. retail mobile commerce sales are on pace to eclipse $123 billion in 2016, up 39.1% year over year, based on a recent eMarketer forecast. But 35% of American shoppers surveyed by RichRelevance said they are generally dissatisfied with the search results they receive on a mobile device; 38% complained they receive worse search results when shopping on their mobile device than on laptop or desktop. Via retaildive.com
66% of global online consumers now shop across borders: report
The survey delineates the tendencies of certain shoppers to leverage an increasingly interconnected ecommerce marketplace, and also highlights growth in mobile ecommerce in emerging markets, where mobile is both preferred and necessary for connectivity. The information provided in the report will be of use to marketers who are looking to organically penetrate international markets.
“Consumers want to shop the way they want to shop, and increasingly that means shopping on a mobile device,” said Kathy Raymond, communications director at Pitney Bowes. “What we saw in the study is that throughout the shopping journey, mobile devices are playing an increasingly greater role.
“Roughly half of shoppers in Singapore at 58%, India at 50%, Mexico at 49% and China at 47% were most likely to use a mobile device (including tablets and phones) for browsing. These are countries that also have high frequencies of online shopping domestic and cross-border.” Via mobilecommercedaily.com
Women 86% more likely to make a purchase through a mobile app: report
Women are 86% more likely to make a purchase on mobile, says a new report from Liftoff, suggesting that women may be the best demographic for marketers to put their attention on.
The Mobile App Engagement Index, released by Liftoff, examines mobile application downloads, engagement and behavior based on demographics and app type, in an effort to help marketers understand where and how to spend their marketing dollars. The report found that women are more likely to make purchases through mobile, giving them a lower cost-per-action for marketers.
“Marketers should consider adjusting their targeting and marketing spend to reach demographics that convert in-app at a higher rate and at a lower cost,” said Dennis Mink, vice president of marketing at Liftoff. “But focusing on cheaper installs is a mistake. Via mobilecommercedaily.com
Mobile now dominates ecommerce transactions in Asia: Criteo report
For the first time, the leading 25% of online retailers in Southeast Asia saw more than half of their sales coming from mobile devices, according to a new research report by Criteo.
In its 1H 2016 State of Mobile Commerce Report, mobile accounted for 60% and 54% of all ecommerce transactions in Taiwan and Southeast Asia, respectively. Across all Southeast Asian retailers, the mobile share of ecommerce transactions increased by 19% year-on-year.
The company noted that regional retailers that can capitalise on this trend will be successful at driving transactions in the shopping seasons that follow. Via campaignasia.com
Close to 90% of coupon searches come from mobile for some: report
At the end of April, 59% of all online searches containing the word “coupon” originated on a smartphone or tablet, while leading bricks-and-mortar retailers saw significantly higher shares, according to a new report from Hitwise, a division of Connexity.
Jo-Ann, Michaels, Hobby Lobby and JCPenney all saw more than 80% of coupon searches on mobile. Overall, deal-oriented searches grew by 40% in the past year, with approximately one out of every 300 online searches seeking out coupons, sales, discounts or deals.
“While it wasn’t a surprise to see that a large and growing share of coupon searches online are originating on mobile devices, what was unexpected was the share of coupon searches that some of the top retailers are getting from smartphones and tablets,” said John Fetto, senior analyst research and marketing at Connexity.
“For instance, 92% of coupon searches mentioning Joann were conducted on a mobile device,” he said. “That’s not just mobile dominant, that’s nearly mobile-exclusive.” Via mobilecommercedaily.com
SEO: Rethinking Mobile Search, for Ecommerce
If you think mobile is a fad, consider that last year four in five smartphone owners turned to their smartphone to shop during those spare bits of time or while engaged in other pursuits, according to data from Google. Ecommerce businesses can no longer afford to ignore their mobile presence, or their mobile search marketing.
The intersection of ecommerce and mobile will likely be even more profitable this year. Consulting firm Kantar Retail has forecasted that online sales will increase 16 percent over last year. Some sources are predicting that mobile holiday purchases will outstrip desktop purchases this year for the first time.
And we know that search is a big part of mobile shopping. Via practicalecommerce.com
Mobile eCommerce is Mostly Smartphones Now
Granted, there were only so many options when it came to how mobile commerce is transacted, but for the most part—according to a new study from Javelin Strategy & Research—the smartphone is leading the way, accounting for $7 for every $10 spent on mobile.
That would be impressive by itself, but it only gets better in that the total amount of mobile commerce is at last report up around the $120 billion mark. That’s up 60 percent from the previous year, so it’s clear that this field is taking off in grand fashion.
Some issues, however, are afoot, perhaps one of the biggest being that the mobile experience is being treated a lot like the desktop online experience. Shoppers are buying more through mobile Web browsers—around $75.3 billion total—which is substantially higher than native app use, which accounted for $46.9 billion. Via paymentweek.com
Mobile matters this holiday season
Watch for record sales via mobile this year according to every prediction. While mobile is an important factor in consumer research and sales, it’s also important in-store. We’ll keep you current on sales results ahead in the US and around the globe, so stay tuned.