As Cyber Monday hoves into view, figures suggest that there are other online shopping spikes starting to happen driven by mobile. According to data from Affiliate Window Sunday 17 November has already seen mobile and tablet shopping traffic hit 35%, while data from Tradedoubler shows that Sunday 1 December is set to be ‘Super Tablet Sunday’. Meanwhile research from Rakuten suggests that, on mobile, the big day is going to be 12 December.
All three companies – along with John Lewis – believe that there will also be significant mobile and tablet commerce spikes on Christmas and Boxing Days.
According to Tradedoubler, purchases made via a tablet are 5 per cent higher on ‘Super Tablet Sunday’, than ‘Mega Monday’; and 35 per cent higher than the first Saturday of December. In 2012, tablet purchases made up 74 per cent of mobile sales on ‘Super Tablet Sunday’, and this dropped to 69 per cent on ‘Mega Monday’. Similarly, Rakuten sees a growing number of people panic buying on tablets nearer to Christmas, with sales through tablets being typically of much higher value.
According to Neil Ranatunga, head of mobile UK & Ireland at Tradedoubler, this is because “Tablets are the ultimate device for making those convenient purchases while chilling on the sofa, and Sunday is typically a relaxing day. Therefore, retailers must plan and map their advertising strategy against consumers’ purchasing habits to target tablet users over the busy festive cyber period, to optimise their sales opportunities on ‘Super Tablet Sunday’ as well as ‘Mega Monday’.”
This fragmentation of how consumers use digital technology to shop marks the beginnings of a shift away from the traditional peak day shopping routines and should be a clarion call to all retailers to be mobile optimized and ready for Christmas shopping action from November onwards. As Mark Haviland, MD, Rakuten Marketing puts it: “Retailers shouldn’t let the ball drop after Cyber Monday or even in the period after Christmas Day. Our data shows that the volume of shoppers, the checkout value, and transactions across mobile devices all peak on different days in December, so retailers should consider how to engage with each type of shopper to increase chances of sales. Different approaches to marketing will be needed across December as shopping habits change during the holiday. For instance, mobile is going to be absolutely key for retailers on Christmas day itself as people shop at home in front of the television, so a presence on these devices will be essential to catch the eye of shoppers scouting the sales online.”
Affiliate window is keen to point out that Cyber Monday is still likely to see a huge growth in mobile shopping traffic – well above last year’s 6%, believes the company – but there will be huge spikes on Christmas and Boxing days. Affiliate Window believes firmly that John Lewis’s prediction that mobile e-commerce will outstrip PC e-commerce on Christmas Day is on course to happen.
Affiliate Window also finds that there are a growing number of mobile optimized sites out there now and that this is increasingly driving conversion and average order values. Average order values through mobile handsets stood at £50 last December. Consumers are widely predicted to spend even more through mobile this year.
So who is doing best out of mobile? According to Affiliate Window there are different retailers making gains on smartphones and tablets.
Smartphone and Tablet top 20 retailers
1) Now TV
2) The Brilliant Gift Shop
3) Groupon
4) Joules
5) New Look
6) Kiddicare
7) Boden
8) Asda Direct
9) Dorothy Perkins
10) The White Company
11) Ticketmaster UK
12) boohoo.com
13) Ann Summers
14) Groupon Ireland
15) Jack Wills
16) Wallis
17) John Lewis
18) Phase Eight
19) Miss Selfridge
20) B & Q
Smartphone top 20 retailers
1) The Brilliant Gift Shop
2) Now TV
3) Groupon Ireland
4) Ann Summers
5) Ticketmaster UK
6) Mighty Deals
7) Living Social
8) Asda Direct
9) Fashion World
10) The Hut
11) Optical Express
12) Simply Be
13) boohoo.com
14) 24studio
15) Dorothy Perkins
16) Qantas
17) AX Paris
18) Jacamo
19) Secret Escapes
20) Miss Selfridge
Tablet top 20 retailers
1) Boden
2) Joules
3) The White Company
4) Phase Eight
5) Evans Cycles
6) John Lewis
7) B & Q
8) Kiddicare
9) Wallis
10) New Look
11) Waitrose
12) Jack Wills
13) Marks and Spencer
14) Dunelm
15) House of Fraser
16) Bravissimo
17) Debenhams
18) Bhs
19) Gorgeous Shop
20) Office Shoes
