By Michael Goldberg
Blame it on the weather, or the turkey hangover, but consumers did not race to stores as much as they have had in the past. Don’t worry; they still shopped. They just did their purchasing on their mobile device.
According to the latest research, Black Friday was “mobile Friday,” with mobile accounting for 30.3% of orders, up from only 22.5% on Black Friday 2013. This actually beat Cyber Monday in terms of mobile shopping. E-commerce orders made on mobile phones and tablets accounted for only 21.9% of orders on Cyber Monday 2014, though that was still a significant jump from only 15.9% on Cyber Monday 2013.
While it should come as no surprise that so many consumers rely on their mobile devices to make big purchases, it is interesting that it is competing so heavily with brick-and-mortar stores on the biggest in-store holiday shopping day of the year. If this trend continues, it will be imperative for marketers to up the ante on their mobile strategy. Forget doorbusters, we’re going to need screen busters or something much more creatively named than that to lure shoppers to their goods and services.
But how best to reach holiday shoppers on mobile? Don’t rely in traditional display, you’ll get nothing but a big “bah humbug!” According to Harvard Business Review, four out of five consumers not only dislike mobile ads, they consider them “unacceptable.” However, 85 percent of mobile users are visually engaged with native advertising presented in the stream of content, and 2x more likely to say they don’t care if content is an ad, as long as it is engaging.
Like the beautifully wrapped gifts you leave under the tree, it’s about presentation. Give mobile users a better experience and everyone wins.
