This year’s Deloitte holiday survey revealed that 68 percent of smartphone owners will use their devices for holiday shopping. Mark Lewis, online director of UK retailer John Lewis recently stated, “We expect this Christmas to be a tipping point, where the majority of our online sales come from mobile devices.”
Adroit Digital delivers strong evidence in support of a mobile shopping season in “For Moms, It’s a Digital Holiday,” a report examining the online shopping habits of today’s moms. Moms, for those not in the know, hold the keys to holiday season success. The 80 million moms raising kids today represent $2.4 trillion in buying power. And, they’re savvy, too: 90% of moms are online, versus 76% of women overall.
Now pair that data with the fact that Mom will be doing the lion’s share of the holiday shopping. According to the Adroit Digital report, 37% of respondents were fully responsible for household gift purchasing, and 34% were responsible for at least three-quarters of it.
It’s clear that retailers need to pay extra attention to the woman of the house this year. They should also pay special attention to her use of tablet and smartphones, because she will be using them quite a bit as she plans those holiday purchases. 21percent of moms surveyed plan to do 50 percent or more of all their online holiday shopping this season from their mobile device versus their computer. Younger moms will do even more shopping from their mobile devices: nearly a third of 18-24 year olds (31 percent) and a quarter of 25-34 year olds, will do at least half of their online shopping from a smartphone or tablet.
Those mobile devices will come into the store with Mom, too. 56 percent of women surveyed plan to use their phone or tablet to track down discounts or coupons, and 50 percent will be comparison-shopping. Of those in-store mobile users, half will be comparing prices to online retailers, and 42 percent will be comparing to prices in local stores. Note that the youngest moms surveyed, those 18-24, will spend 50 percent of their in-store time researching product information on their mobile devices.
Another important trend retailers should note: Half of the moms surveyed plan to shop on the mobile web versus shopping using a retailer’s app. Not surprisingly, it’s the millennial moms who will be doing the app-based shopping.
So what are the takeaways for retailers here?
- For starters, pay attention to your mobile shopping experience. Many of your most important and influential holiday shoppers will be engaging with it this season.
- Be aware that there are three generations of women actively parenting children today: Millenials, Gen-Xers and Boomers. These three groups are leveraging online shopping in very different ways. Ensure you’ve built an appropriate experience for each segment. Note that millennials will be using mobile devices far more frequently than other moms, and they’ll be shopping via your app more frequently as well.
- Be prepared for showrooming moms. Consider price-match offers, as many retailers have done, or special, mobile-only, in-store experiences and offers.
With Thanksgiving and Cyber Week just around the corner, are you ready for the mobile moms? What are you doing to prepare?
To download full report, click here.