Going Mobile

Ellen C. Wells

I woke up recently thinking, “Oh shoot, I need to get X, Y and Z and I don’t have much time.” Within two hours my Target order—placed via my phone—was ready for pickup, which I retrieved on my way to run another errand. Voila, shopping done.

The e-newsletter Retail Brew published a piece recently about mobile shopping. An Adobe Analytics report predicts 53% of online sales during the upcoming holiday season will be driven by mobile devices such as phones and tablets. Adobe also found that mobile spending is running neck and neck with desktop shopping and that a “tipping point” where mobile will outpace desktop shopping is just a few months in the future.

What’s driving mobile purchases? Continually improving user experiences, for one. Speed and convenience factor in, as well.

This is the part of the article I found interesting: Personal care (77%), grocery (68%) and apparel (61%) were the categories that had the largest percentages of mobile sales. Home improvement sales were just 33%. Why the disparity? An Adobe Digital Insights analyst suggested it’s because consumers are hesitant to make larger purchases via mobile, but are much more comfortable with purchases that are more frequent and lower in price.

Am I saying to run out and get your plants set up for mobile sales? No. I am pointing out, however, that whatever your sales strategy is, make sure mobile is a part of it in some way in the very near future. GP