Each year it seems as if the kickoff to the holiday shopping season gets bigger and bigger. We’ve gone from having Black Friday, to adding Cyber Monday, then Small Business Saturday, and now Green Tuesday. As each year sets new records for consumer spending, we as marketers have seen some notable takeaways, too. This year, that came in the form of how mobile has been fairing during these “shopping holidays” and what that could mean for e-commerce as a whole.

2018’s Black Friday and Cyber Monday holidays reportedly saw more retail traffic come from mobile devices than desktop, according to this Marketing Land article. The piece references data from a few notable sources, including Salesforce, Shopify, Adobe, and Raukuten Marketing.

Salesforce found that on Thanksgiving Day, mobile generated 68% of retail site traffic and for the 1st time 54% of orders were placed on smartphones. Adobe also found interesting statistics around Thanksgiving Day, which included that consumers are online shopping directly following dinner, with mobile usage ramping up after 4pm and peaks between 8pm and 10pm.  Adobe says it is now the fastest growing shopping day, with 28% growth in revenue over last year, and online prices being as low as on Black Friday.

In regards to 2018 Black Friday, sales were reported by Adobe as being $6.2 billion, which is 23.6% over last year. Adobe also reported that on Black Friday, mobile drove almost 34% of purchases, while according to Shopify, 66% of sales from Shopify merchants were made on mobile, compared to 34% made on desktop from Black Friday to Cyber Monday. As for how much money that accounted for, Adobe reported that the two shopping holidays combined, had smartphone sales exceeding $4 billion.

As for Cyber Monday on it’s own, Adobe revealed the day had a record of $7.9 billion in sales, which made it the largest online shopping day in the U.S. They also reported that over 54% of retail visits came from mobile during the holiday and Raukuten Marketing said that 31% of Cyber Monday buying happened on smartphones specifically.

Overall, retail traffic driven by social is said to be up 41% from last year, while Raukuten Marketing reported mobile devices show the largest transaction growth over the long weekend with mobile revenues increasing 52% and mobile conversions growing 61%.

How do these numbers impact you?

You might be thinking, “We’re selling skid steers or dump trucks and those aren’t products flying out of the dealership on Black Friday.” But you’d be wise to still pay attention to these numbers because they reveal a lot about consumers’ current and future behavior. All the sources above agree that the majority of retail traffic during the long weekend was driven by smartphones and tablets showcasing that there is an increasing presence of sales on smartphones.

Ultimately, what this means for your dealership as people push towards researching and buying online, is that you need to create a compelling mobile experience for your visitors.

Aren’t sure whether your current website is responsive? Then it’s time to give us a call or email us at marketing@commercialwebservices.com. Especially because by this time next year, it’s being estimated that smartphones will be driving at least as many conversions as desktop.