A whopping 12.4% of online Christmas shopping will come via mobile devices in Europe, up 68% on last year, according figures put out by Adobe in the build up to the festive season. If these numbers are correct, then mobile holiday shopping in Europe will be larger than that of the US.
For the US, Adobe expects consumers to spend more online this holiday season, up 12% from last year, with the largest online shopping day, Cyber Monday (2 December), hitting $2.27 billion, up 15% from 2012. The highest grossing online shopping day in Europe is forecast to be 9 December, where the daily sales will be 2.74 times the 2013 average daily online sales. The highest grossing week of online shopping in Europe is predicted to be from 9 to 13 December. For the entire holiday shopping season, Europe will see a 1.42 times increase in 2013 average daily online sales.
“The rapid growth in mobile shopping across Europe should be a very clear signal to retailers that a sound mobile strategy is not a luxury, but a vital part of their future success,” explains Mark Phibbs, vice president of EMEA marketing, Adobe. “And while tablets have certainly stolen the mobile spotlight and often generate three to five times more online sales for retailers than do smartphones, in every European country we analysed, retail transactions on smartphones are growing faster than retail transactions on tablets. While this phenomenon is certainly aided by the recent introduction of smartphones with larger screens, it’s a reminder to retailers that a mobile strategy must include smartphones and not just tablets.”
COUNTRY BY COUNTRY FOR YULETIDE 2013CE
United Kingdom
The highest grossing online shopping day in the UK will be December 2rd, where online sales will be 2.18 times the 2013 average daily online sales. The UK is projected to have the highest mobile share of online sales during the holidays of any European country analysed with 20.4% (i.e. 20.4% of all online holiday sales come from a mobile device), well above the projected European average of 12.4% and the US projected average of 14.4%.
France
The highest grossing online shopping day in France is January 7th, where online sales will be 2.45 times the 2013 average daily online sales. France is the only European country analysed that will have a peak shopping day outside of the holiday shopping season. France has some catching up to do with only 9.5% of online holiday sales projected to come from mobile.
Germany
The highest grossing online shopping day in Germany will be December 8th, where online sales will be 3.03 times the 2013 average daily online sales. Germany is projected see 10.6% of online holiday sales coming from mobile.
Nordics
The highest grossing online shopping day in the Nordics will be December 9th, where online sales will be 3.63 times the 2013 average daily online sales. The Nordics are projected to have a healthy 14.7% of online holiday sales coming from mobile.
Netherlands
The highest grossing online shopping day in the Netherlands will be December 16th, where online sales will be 1.74 times the 2013 average daily online sales. In the Netherlands, 10.5% of online holiday sales are projected to come from mobile.
United States
With only 27 days between Thanksgiving and Christmas (Thanksgiving marks the beginning of holiday sales in the US, whereas holiday sales in Europe start at the beginning of November), the data indicates that the late start will cost US retailers $1.5 billion in potential sales. Despite the shortest US holiday shopping season since 2002, and despite concerns over gridlock in Washington and the recent government shutdown, Adobe expects strong growth of US online sales on Thanksgiving (November 28th) with $1.1 billion (up 21% YoY), on Black Friday (November 29th) with $1.6 billion (up 17% YoY), and on Cyber Monday (December 2nd) with $2.27 billion (up 15% YoY). Cyber Monday in the US will see 3.5 times the average 2013 daily online sales. For the entire holiday season in the US, the average increase over 2013 daily online sales is projected to be 1.2 times.
