Data Monday: Mobile Holiday Shopping

by November 26, 2012

As we enter the busiest shopping season of the year, mobile devices are driving more retail visits and purchases in the United States than ever before. Yes... people really do buy things on smartphones and tablets.

Thanksgiving Day

  • Thanksgiving Day ranked as 3rd highest transaction day in 2011. (source)
  • Thanksgiving Day online traffic increased 71% in 2012 versus 2011. Retail traffic also increased 46% on Thanksgiving Day 2012 versus the day before. (source)
  • 28.5% of US consumers used a mobile device to visit a retailer’s site this Thanksgiving holiday. (source)
  • 14.1% of consumers used their mobile devices to make purchases, up four percentage points on last year. (source)
  • The average number of pages viewed on a mobile device was 7.13. (source)
  • The iPhone was the most popular device driving US retail shopping with 10.5% of visits, the iPad accounted for 10.1% of all visits and Android devices were 7.7%. (source)
  • On Thanksgiving 2012 PayPal saw more than a 2.5-fold increase in global mobile payment volume compared to Thanksgiving 2011. That's a 164% increase in the number of global customers shopping through PayPal's mobile service this Thanksgiving compared to last year. (source)
  • eBay saw a 133% increase in mobile transactions this Thanksgiving compared to last year. (source)

Black Friday

  • US retail e-commerce spending was $1.042 billion on Black Friday: the first time Black Friday sales surpassed $1 billion. (source)
  • Black Friday online sales were up 20.7% in spending from last year led by mobile consumers. Mobile Black Friday sales reached 16.3%, led by the iPad. (source)
  • Android went from 1.43% of Black Friday shopping traffic in 2010 to 4.92% in 2012. In same time iOS went from 3.85% to 18.46%. (source)
  • Apple's iPad contributed to 10% of online shopping, followed by iPhone at 8.7% and Android at 5.5%. (source)
  • Overall 58% of consumers used smartphones compared to 41% who used tablets to surf for bargains on Black Friday. (source)
  • 24% of Black Friday retail traffic in 2012 came from mobile devices. (source)
  • 14.3% of Black Friday retail traffic in 2011 came from mobile devices. (source)
  • 5.5% of Black Friday retail traffic in 2010 came from mobile devices. (source)
  • Less than 1% of Black Friday retail traffic in 2009 came from mobile devices. (source)