Record Mobile Shopping Predicted for Holidays
In news that shouldn't really come as a surprise, more consumers will be going online to make their holiday purchases this year. Furthermore, mobile will play a big part in that growth. These are two of the primary trends identified by IBM in its annual holiday shopping predictions. Yesterday, IBM released its holiday forecast based on billions of online and in-store transactions analyzed by its Digital Analytics Benchmark and Quarterly Retail Forecast.
Here are some predictions from the report:
- online sales will increase 15 percent over the five-day period between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday;
- Cyber Monday online sales are projected to increase 15.8 percent, with online sales on Thanksgiving Day expected to grow by 15.6 percent;
- mobile browsing will account for nearly half (48.2 percent) of all online traffic over the five-day period, an increase of 23 percent over last year;
- mobile sales will comprise 24.4 percent of all online sales, up 9.5 percent year-over-year;
- due to an increased use of digital coupons, consumers will spend 2.9 percent less per online order over the five-day period;
- retailers’ emails sent during the five-day period will see a 10 percent increase in clickthrough rate vs. last year, with 35 percent of those clickthroughs occurring on a mobile device; and
- tablets will account for twice as many mobile purchases compared to smartphones.
"Without question, this will be a strong holiday shopping season, supported by the power of big data and analytics, which are helping brands better understand their customers and make crucial decisions in real time," said Jay Henderson, director of strategy, IBM ExperienceOne, in a company press release.
These projections just hammer home the point that retailers need to optimize their websites — both desktop and mobile — for increased holiday traffic. Consumers want and expect the same personalized shopping experience online that they're getting in-store.
What's your company doing to prepare for the coming holiday rush, both online and in-store? How are you integrating the two channels to best serve on-the-go consumers? Let us know by posting a comment below.
