Today, we’re looking at the impact of mobile commerce on e-commerce and holiday retail sales. Neosperience reports smartphone users spend nearly three hours daily looking at mobile devices. Deloitte Digital says 84% of consumers use their mobile phone while shopping in store. Kmart’s mobile app will feature layaways, in-store pickup, bluelight specials and mobile coupons for shoppers. Blackhawk Network’s survey of consumers found 81% will buy gift cards this holiday shopping season.
Just in time for holiday shoppers, Citibank launched its new digital wallet. IAB and IAB China reports show 67% of Chinese and 34% of US digital users made a mobile purchase over the previous 12 months. USA Today profiles four top mobile shopping apps for the holidays. Ibotta mobile app gives consumers discounts and cashback on their holiday shopping. 62% of Chinese consumers shop on mobile devices according to a PricewaterhouseCoopers survey. Shoppers in 235 countries bought something on Singles Day and Alibaba’s AliPay accounted for 82% of mobile purchases.
All in all, it’s clear mobile is a powerful force in shopping online and in-store.
The Revolution of The Retail Customer Experience
The awareness that the rhythm of our existence is marked by the mobile revolution is certified by three stats:
– 15 – The minutes between when we wake up and when we turn on the smartphone.
– 150 – How many times we check, on average, the smartphone during the day.
– 177 – The minutes we spend, on average, every day looking at the screen of a mobile device.
Linking these statistics together, we can highlight that customers today do not go online … they live online. Better yet, they experience an endless sequence of moments, in a nonlinear balance between the online and offline worlds. Via blog.neosperience.com
Black Friday and beyond: Mobile strategies that keep on giving
With Black Friday and the holiday shopping season around the corner, retailers are hoping for a fourth quarter that’s good to them, delivering sales that fatten their bottom line. They’re also looking for opportunities to acquire new customers and stay engaged with current ones to ultimately convert them to loyal consumers who will continue to boost their top-line revenue for the year ahead and beyond.
Fortunately for brick-and-mortar retailers, the key to welcoming shoppers through their doors and accomplishing both is right in the palm of most shoppers’ hands: a mobile device.
According to Pew Research, 72 percent of Americans own a smartphone, so it’s no surprise shoppers have come to rely on it heavily. A study by Deloitte Digital found that digital shoppers bring higher store traffic, conversions and spending; with 84 percent of consumers saying they use their phone while shopping in stores, mobile strategies are vital for engaging with shoppers and helping them chart easy-to-navigate buying journeys during Black Friday and beyond. Via marketingland.com
Kmart goes all in on mobile for the best holiday deals
Kmart is one of the latest retailers to dive into mobile, almost exclusively, for holiday and Black Friday deals, a move that follows a positive upswing in mobile conversion rates.
The mass merchant is equipping its application users with a series of features to make their holiday shopping easier such as mobile layaway, in-store pickup, rewards tracking, blue light push notifications and mobile coupons. As in-store continues to remain constant, mobile sales are on the rise, Kmart’s strategy is to weave digital in to offline and online strategies for a better customer experience. Via mobilecommercedaily.com
Survey highlights importance of mobile commerce for gift cards
Blackhawk Network’s survey of 2,342 adults in the U.S. (conducted in September, 2016) found that 81% claim that up to half of the gifts they plan to purchase this holiday season could be gift cards.
Gift cards are not perceived to be as impersonal or lazy as they once were. In fact, according to research by Blackhawk Network earlier this year cards that provide the recipient with the option to choose a gift were cited by more than half (55%) as feeling like a personal gift.
The survey also highlights the growing importance of mobile commerce for gift cards: “50% of respondents across all age groups are at least somewhat interested in using an app to store gift card information on their phone, with 59% preferring to use one app to store gift cards from multiple merchants.” Via bizreport.com
Citi joins mobile pay as consumer adoption reaches highpoint
As mobile payments reach critical mass, Citibank is joining the onslaught of providers with its standalone digital wallet as a part of its quest to provide consumers with a wide array of options of interest.
Mobile pay is expected to increase at an 80 percent compounded rate annually by 2020, which has prompted a slew of financial institutions, technology providers and retailers to create their own platforms. Citi is the latest to join in the hopes to appeal to consumers who are interested in the convenience and not lag behind with its mobile pay platform that allows users to pay on apps, Web sites and Android users to pay Via mobilecommercedaily.com
Chinese shoppers lead way in digital commerce
While digital commerce is strong in the world’s two largest economies, Chinese shoppers use smartphones and tablets more than shoppers in the US.
This is shown in a new study from IAB (Interactive Advertising Bureau) and IAB China, Understanding Digital Commerce in the US and China. Conducted by consulting firm Hypothesis Group, the research shows that both China and the US have achieved near-full adoption of digital commerce, with 89 per cent of Chinese digital users aged from 18 years up and 84 per cent of US digital users in the same age bracket saying they had bought a product or service digitally over the previous 12 months.
When it comes to mobile commerce, China leads the way in several areas:
– 67 per cent of Chinese digital users had made a mobile purchase over the previous 12 months vs 34 per cent of US digital users.
– 24 per cent of Chinese mobile shoppers purchase via mobile every day vs 15 per cent of US mobile shoppers. Via insideretail.asia
Best apps to get Black Friday deals
If you’re looking to buy gifts for family, friends, and coworkers, or want to treat yourself to something new, there are deals to be had on Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
To help get the best price possible, there are a few “must have” shopping apps to download from Google Play (for Android devices) or App Store (for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch).
Whether you’re shopping at retail or the “endless aisles” at online stores, the following are a few of my favorites. Via usatoday.com
Mobile app offers coupon-conscious shoppers new way to save
From groceries to household necessities, some items are hard to skimp on. While Consumer Reports says Americans are spending more, shoppers still want the most bang for their buck.
“I stretch my dollars by using as many coupons as possible because it saves a lot of money,” couponer Greg Polk said.
While traditional coupon clipping is one way to save, life in the digital age lends itself to a more technology-driven approach.
The Ibotta mobile app offers consumers a chance to save money by unlocking rebates and verifying their purchases. WBBJ spoke with founder and CEO Bryan Leach via Skype about the app. Via wbbjtv.com
How China’s mobile retail spending will just keep ringing up
Around 62 per cent of Chinese people shop from their computers and phones out of convenience, with 36 per cent doing so because it is cheaper, a PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) survey showed.
“There’s a lot of different motivations driving consumers to purchase online, but in China we definitely see a much higher penetration of e-commerce and particularly using mobile,” Jessie Qian, head of consumer markets for KPMG China, told the Post.
With various third-party payment options available at the touch of a button, 65 per cent of Chinese people surveyed by PwC shop on their phones at least monthly, versus 28 per cent globally. Via scmp.com
What US retailers can learn from Alibaba’s record-setting Singles Day
Singles Day is all about e-commerce — physical stores in China don’t participate — and increasingly about mobile commerce in particular: Mobile gross merchandise volume settled through Ma’s Alipay unit accounted for 82% of the sales total, compared to 69% in 2015.
It could be now characterized as a global event too, considering that shoppers from 235 countries and regions completed cross-border Singles Day transactions this year, and 37% of total buyers purchased items from international brands or merchants, according to Alibaba data. Japan, the U.S., South Korea, Australia and Germany led all countries selling to Chinese shoppers on Singles Day: The top U.S. brands were Apple, Nike, New Balance Playboy and Skechers, while the top European brands were Siemens, Philips, Adidas, Jack Jones and Only.
In all, Singles Day 2016 raked in roughly seven times as many sales as Cyber Monday 2015, the most comparable U.S. holiday, according to Euromonitor International. Still, this is a China-based event, so how much value do such comparisons have? And what implications does Singles Day have for merchants in the U.S., or other parts of the globe? Via retaildive.com
Mobile matters to retailers and consumers
This holiday season will be marked by mobile sales and we’ll keep readers updated as holiday sales roll forward. With only three days until US Thanksgiving, Black Friday shoppers are warming up their wallets and purses and checking out online promotions and preview flyers in detail.