Mobile Devices & Holiday Shopping

from San Jose Mercury News 26 Nov 13 enhanced by Peter/CXO Wiz4biz

More Mobile. If the crowds at the mall seem a bit thinner this holiday season (I don’t believe it, Wiz4biz. Do you?), it may be because more shoppers are at home, buying Christmas gifts on an Laptop, Tablet or Smart-Phone. This year, more consumers than ever before are expected to rely on their mobile gadgets as holiday shopping companions. There’s even a name for it: “Couch Commerce.” “We’ve been talking about mobile for the last five or six years, but 2013 really is the year of mobile,” said the President of the U.S. operations of Retal.com – who has an app that collects weekly retail ads.

Consumers are turning to Smart-Phones & Tablets not only to make purchases, but also for coupons & promotions, to search for gifts and compare prices. Retailers are responding too, trotting out snazzy new apps & mobile sites to encourage shoppers to buy their brands.

Go Mobile or melt !!! Some experts say that retailers’ ability to connect with shoppers on their mobile gadgets may determine the success of their holiday season — and their entire year. Many retailers rely on the holiday shopping season for up to 40 % of their annual revenue. “It’s becoming a bit of a tipping point,” said the Retail Director for Global Research & Consulting firm PWC in San Francisco. “There is a pretty big basket of spending going to mobile.” There’s a lot to lose for retailers who aren’t on mobile, where consumers do 30 % of their online shopping. According to an Adobe study, retailers with well-developed mobile sites get about 20 % of their total online sales from a Smart-Phone or Tablet, with the highest sales this holiday season expected to be on Thanksgiving Day. Mobile spending is expected to approach $10 Billion during the last three months of this year, according to Internet technology company ComScore, up from $5.8 Billion in the third quarter. Consumers spent about $7.2 Billion on mobile devices in the fourth quarter of 2012.

Top 40. More than 40 % of shoppers will use their mobile devices for holiday shopping this year, and almost 70 % of all Smart-Phone owners will shop for gifts from their Laptop, Tablet or Smart-Phone, according to several studies from research groups including Google. Experts say Tablets have been one of the biggest drivers of mobile browsing and purchases — about 41 % of consumers will shop from their Tablets over the next few weeks, making them almost as popular as desktops for holiday shopping, according to research group Burst Media.

Couch Commerce. “People prefer to be at home on their couch shopping from their laptop and iPad,” said the Founder of Poach It, an online coupon service and price tracker. “There’s more variety, there’s better prices and it’s just easier.” The number of consumers who shop from the couch was up nearly 350 % between 2011 and 2012, said a PayPal spokes-woman.

( Couch Commerce continued, More “In-Store” Mobile Features, most rapidly growing Distribution channel, reaching out to Small Business in Premium Content )