Mobile Retail Traffic to Surge in Holiday Season

During this year’s November holiday season, an unprecedented 15 percent of people in the U.S. logging onto a retailer’s Web site are expected to do so through a mobile device, according to cloud analytics-based findings by IBM.

Based on data from the IBM Coremetrics Benchmark, all online holiday shopping in November is also expected to grow as much as 15 percent versus November 2010, with the growing influence of mobile devices such as iPads and Android phones being among the key factors.

The IBM Coremetrics Benchmark analysis gathers data directly from the web sites of more than 500 leading U.S. retailers. Using analytics technology, the benchmark measures real-time sales data and online marketing results to uncover shopping trends across a variety of channels including social media, mobile devices and other online sources where consumers interact with their brands.

This latest installment serves as the commencement of IBM’s fourth-annual Benchmark Campaign and reveals the following 2011 online retail predictions for the November holiday season:

Online Shopping Growth: Total online sales in November will experience impressive growth of 12-15 percent over the same period in 2010.

Mobile Traffic and Sales: Record numbers of consumers will shift their shopping from the PC to their mobile device this holiday season. In October nearly 11 percent of people used a mobile device to visit a retailer’s site, up from 4.2 percent in October 2010. Additionally, mobile sales continue to increase, reaching a high of 9.6 percent in October 2011, up from 3.4 percent in October 2010.

iPhone & Android: For the first time, Android users will demonstrate similar levels of mobile shopping as iPhone users. These October 2011 numbers show iPhone accounting for 4.0 percent of mobile traffic and Android 3.5 percent.

The iPad Factor: Shoppers using an iPad will lead to more retail purchases more often per visit than other mobile devices. This trend is based on October 2011 figures where iPad conversion rates reached 6.8 percent as compared to the overall mobile device conversion rate of 3.6 percent.  

Surgical Shopping Goes Mobile: Mobile shoppers will display a laser focus on buying this season that surpasses that of other online shoppers with a 44.2 percent bounce rate on mobile devices versus online shopping rates of 37.3 percent.  

The Social Influence: While the industry will see modest increases in direct social buying, the influence of these sites and services will eclipse that of other channels. According to October conversion rates, 9.2 percent of consumers that visited a retail site from a social media site made a purchase. This compares to 5.5 percent of all direct online shopping last year. Also in 2010, the vast majority of social shopping will continue to come from Facebook, which in October accounted for 77 percent of all traffic from social networks.

“This November holiday season will mark the true advent of the post-PC era with consumers demonstrating a heightened interest in adding mobile devices to their holiday shopping arsenal,” said John Squire, director, Product Management, Enterprise Marketing Management Group, IBM Industry Solutions.

“In response, savvy retailers must invest in delivering hyper-personalized, smarter commerce shopping experiences that are capable of building loyalty through multiple channels with exceptionally relevant promotions, free shipping and more.”