Is the app coming into it’s own? It certainly seems to have gained some traction during black Friday and Cyber Monday. According to m-commerce platform provider GPShopper app usage and sales were at an all-time high this holiday season, with traffic, revenue and number of orders increasing up to 392% year-over-year.
Furthermore, in-store app usage reached an all-time high, clocking in at five-times the amount of in-store visit typically reported during the holiday.
The figures are born out by a separate study by app commerce platform provider Poq , which found that, twice as many shoppers were using its apps than the associated m-web site on Black Friday and that conversion rate on apps was 60% higher than on desktop. At one point on Black Friday a Poq client was entertaining 12,000 simultaneous apps users.
The increase in app use can be attributed to better experience and to the fact that shoppers were ‘ready to strike’ on Black Friday having prepared the app in advance so they could get the best bargains.
However, app use is also driving in-store shopping across the Black Friday weekend. According to GPShopper, although in-store traffic witnessed some slow-down this holiday, those braving the crowds came armed with their mobile apps in tow. On Black Friday, in-store app usage reached an all-time high, clocking in at five-fold the amount of in-store visit typically reported during the holiday.
App users were all about efficiency by relying on mobile apps for their in-store navigation tool and shopping checklist. Popular behaviors included reviewing in-app wish and shopping lists, checking offers and local coupons, checking loyalty specific offers in store and using the app to validate local inventory and pricing with barcode scanning.
Black Friday visits to GPShopper’s client apps increased 353% year-over-year while unique visits increased 172%. The number of orders placed in-app increased 270%, bringing revenue to a 309% increase over last Black Friday.
However, Cyber Monday belonged to m-web. Activity – while still experiencing year over year increases in visits, revenue and number of orders placed – was outshined by the app activity on Thanksgiving and Black Friday.
Maya Mikhailov, CMO and Co-Founder of GPShopper, explains what she thinks is going on: “Cyber Monday primarily draws in customers who are just searching for the best deals and will check multiple sites, from less frequently visited retailers, to achieve the most savings. They are driven in through social media and forwarded emails offering bargains.
These are transient deal-hungry shoppers are eager to buy Cyber Monday, but the challenge for retailers is retaining their loyalty after the mark-down.”
Apps still performed well, however. Cyber Monday visits to GPShopper’s client apps increased 275% year-over-year while unique visits increased 215%. The number of orders placed in-app increased 137%, bringing commerce to a 169% increase over last Cyber Monday, resulting in strong performance, but clearly showing Thanksgiving and Black Friday are where store apps shine.
So, in summary, mobile – whether app or m-web – saved the day on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, lifting what would otherwise have been disappointing results, as we reported here.
