Yep another blog post about mobile, but this one is sooooo different!! How you ask? Because it’s related to the holiday’s and offers some new facts that might have you rethinking your mobile approach for the upcoming season.
Holiday season is sure to bring back fond memories; family/friends, shopping, eating, shopping, football, eating, gift exchanges and holiday office parties! It should come as no surprise that at the top of almost every “Top 10 gifts” list is a tablet/smartphone or mobile device of some sort. The use of tablets is growing; the use of mobile devices is growing even more. Stats recently released by mobiThinking.com show mobile shopping and consumer behavior is growing and that 79 percent of consumers use a smartphone to help with shopping and 70 percent use their phone while IN THE STORE !
Mobile devices are not just used for gaming, facebook and email. Proof comes in the form of the following; I noticed just the other day while riding the train (EL) home from work that the lady next to me (mid 40’s) was using her iPad2 to shop. Now this is nothing new. But over the course of my fifteen plus minute train ride home I witnessed her purchase three items from two of the five stores she browsed. (DISCLAMIER: Creepy of me? maybe but it was purely research related!) This intrigued me, now I’m fully aware that consumers use their mobile devices to purchase items online (guilty). But “how” often and what are the numbers behind this trend.
A recent Wall Street Journal article on tablets, retailers and consumers states…”while the conversion rate – orders divided by total visits – is 3% for shoppers using traditional PC, it is 4% or 5% for shoppers using tablets…” Now it is known that the number of tablets users to PC differs greatly but tablet usage and purchases are on the rise. The same article also mentions that “many retailers also report that tablet users place bigger orders – in some cases adding 10% to 20% more to the tab – on average than shoppers using PCs or smartphones…” This more than any other stat I found was the most reveling and insightful. What does this mean? If you are a retailer with or without an ecommerce solution now more than ever is the time to look at your offerings and find a solution.
And if you are a visual person, like myself there are a ton of infographics out there on the subject. Like this one on how mobile trends are shaping ecommerce and this one, 2012 mobile trends. And last of all recently there was a poll done that showed that roughly 6% of shopping will be done via a mobile device. And that same poll also stats 45% of e-retailers expect higher holiday web sales this year over last!
The point I’m trying to make here is that if you don’t consider mobile devices when it comes to selling online then you are falling short on potential as relates to revenue and conversion. Consumers now, more than ever, have options and purchasing via a mobile enabled device is one of them. Why not account for every potential touch point when selling online. Not only will you see this effect revenue but it will help in conversion!
In closing, wishing you all the best during the holidays and remember mobile means MONEY!! ;)
(photo courtasy of: http://blog.aprimo.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/mobile-santa-300×200.jpg)
