Mobile shopping appears to be the holiday e-commerce gift that keeps on giving to retailers this season as mobile transactions and traffic increased not only over the predicted Black Friday and Cyber Monday but the entire week, according to research from†Mobify.
While transactions and traffic share on desktop and tablet devices decreased YOY, mobile transaction and traffic share both rose 22% over 2017, indicating consumers appreciate the convenience and are more comfortable shopping on mobile. A decrease in visits to product detail pages (PDPs) on Black Friday suggests shoppers know what they want. And a 3% spike in the percent of online shopping cart landing pages (when a shopper goes directly to a cart at the start of a session) compared to the average November Tuesday, along with a month-long high for saved-cart shopping and purchasing, provide insights into the types of†mobile shopping behavior†retailers can study and capitalize on during peak engagement periods.†
“Last year, we saw mobile revenue jump, particularly for retail leaders, while two years ago we were looking at holiday mobile shoppers turning to their phones primarily on weekends,” said Mobify CEO Igor Faletski. “Now we have a prolonged digital holiday shopping week dominated by mobile with consumers who are savvy, engaged and ready to be sold to. This puts a lot of pressure on retailers to keep up with expectations across mobile, as well as across all screens and channels.”
Highlights of Mobify’s review of shopping data covering the period from the days leading to Black Friday through Cyber week:†
- Over Thanksgiving weekend, mobile stole traffic from desktop and tablet devices, increasing its share of traffic by an average of 22% over last year, while its revenue share increased 28%.
- Increased mobile session duration continued into the week, with peak engagement on “Cyber Tuesday,” with a session duration of 18 seconds longer than other Tuesday shopping days in November.†
† - YoY conversion rates actually decreased on Cyber Monday, but this can be a†misleading metric†that should not be viewed in isolation. Both mobile traffic and transactions increased YoY – mobile transactions just didn’t increase as much as traffic, which results in a decrease in conversion rate.
† - Sessions-with-search rates peak for November on the Sunday to Wednesday before Black Friday as consumers look for deals, increasing again on Cyber Tuesday as they check back on sales and offers.
† - Percentage of Cart landing pages spikes on “Cyber” Tuesday, with consumers returning to their carts after sales were extended, then converting with a month-wide high rate of 9%.
† - PDPs visited shows shoppers preparing for the Black Friday, with Monday to Wednesday before Black Friday leading the charge for PDP views over all pages viewed. Views of PDPs dip on the actual day, indicating shoppers knew what they wanted through Cyber Monday and Tuesday and didn’t shop around for different products, with page views returning to a relatively normal view rate at the end of the month.
“Shoppers are clearly interested in extending holiday shopping via mobile,” according to Mobify’s Faletski. “Promotions like flash sales throughout the week and ensuring that products are in stock after the holiday rush are essential.† Retailers have to be ready to deliver not just a good, short-term mobile commerce experience, but a great one that is sustainable and at the center of their customers’ purchasing preferences.”
