Almost a quarter of all online sales during the holiday season will be done via mobile devices, a record number for mobile shopping, according to a new research. Online sales between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday will increase 15 percent from last year, while in-store sales are predicted to jump by four percent during the whole season.
Based on an analysis of billions of online and in-store transactions, IBM released its Digital Analytics Benchmark and Quarterly Retail Forecast. The company predicts growth in sales during the holiday shopping season, with a healthy four percent rise in in-store sales, driven by increased demand for health and beauty products, followed by women’s clothing. And while the retail industry will enjoy strong holiday season, online sales will reach record numbers this year, according to the forecast.
Online sales are expected to increase by an average of 15 percent during the five days between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday, with 15.8 percent rise on Cyber Monday and 15.6 percent growth on Thanksgiving. The jump in online sales on the traditionally busiest days for retail sales, Black Friday, will be 13 percent. And mobile browsing will be the major driver of this growth – it is predicted to account for nearly half (48.2%) of the entire online traffic in the five-day period. People will look for deals and products on their devices, instead of searching for items in stores that will take from their free time on the holiday. This will affect mobile sales, as well, which are expected to rise 9.5 percent from 2013 and account for 24.4 percent of all online sales.
Mobile devices will be preferred choice for customers when shopping on Thanksgiving. More than half of all online shopping (53%) will come from smartphones and tablets and will account for 28 percent of all online sales on the holiday. At the same time, customers will look for more digital deals and sales and as a result, they will spend on average $123.28 per order over the five-day period, which will be a slight drop (2.9%) from last year. The number of items, however, will be greater. The forecast also tells that spam will be less this year, but not in terms of volume, but rather in terms of content. Marketers will now send more personalized promotions to customers, instead of delivering tons of irrelevant and unwanted emails. And customers will respond by clicking more on personalized ads, according to IBM.
