This could truly be the holiday of a mobile shopping breakout.
Consider the results of a recent RhythmOne holiday-focused survey, which shows that a majority (71.5 percent) of holiday shoppers are “mobile holiday shoppers” and will use a mobile device to go online and/or use an app to shop or research holiday products and gifts.
RhythmOne is a technology-enabled media company that connects audiences with brands through premium content across devices. This year’s survey is the firm’s 11th annual holiday season commerce study.
“Among mobile holiday shoppers, 40.9 percent will use a smartphone only, 40.0 percent will use both a smartphone and a tablet, and 19.1 percent will use a tablet only to research/shop for holiday products and gifts,” the report authors explain. “Of note, three in five (60.4 percent) mobile holiday shoppers aged 18-34 years will exclusively use a smartphone as their mobile holiday shopping device.”
The company’s 11 consecutive seasons of surveying shows not only that mobile is now huge in the path to purchase, but that marketers should take advantage of that knowledge.
Of note is the fact that mobile is increasingly used in-store as well. About half of holiday shoppers will use their mobile devices while in a physical store location to assist in the shopping process (checking competitor prices is the most common in-store mobile activity).
“In our past holiday consumer studies, we documented the steady rise in the number of consumers turning to mobile devices to help with their holiday shopping,” said Dan Slivjanovski, CMO at RhythmOne.
“Today we can unequivocally say that we are beyond the tipping point and mobile shopping — whether window shopping or making a purchase — is as much a part of the holiday season as Black Friday deals,” he added. “For brands and retailers, this means mobile experiences from advertising and content distribution to native apps and in-store mobile experiences have to be nurtured.”
