Online Commerce Businesses Take Note – The Black Friday Weekend Was Quite Revealing

Black Friday is synonymous the world over with the bewilderingly bad behaviour of bargain hunters who hit the streets by the million looking to make a quick saving. But over recent years, what started out as a single day of merciless merriment had spilled over to become an extended weekend of frenzied shopping. Second only to Black Friday, Cyber Monday has become a massively important fixture on the online retail calendar and this year in particular brought to light some genuinely surprising and useful data titbits.IBM Digital Analytics Benchmark once again did the business by tracking what went on and how – the result of which was a report not to be overlooked by any online retailer out to remain valid long-term. With a month’s worth of shopping activity crammed into a single day, Cyber Monday presented a unique opportunity to closely and accurately study contemporary web retail trends and habits as a basis for on-going marketing strategies.     So what, did we learn this year?Massive Mobile MovementWell, for one thing the day’s total sales once again increased over those of last year – official estimates peg year-on-year growth at just under 9%. However, what proved to be an even more important, if slightly obvious shift from prior years was the way in which more online shoppers than ever before used their mobile devices to make purchases.This year, a full 21% of all sales made on Cyber Monday were chalked up by mobile device users – growth of nearly a third compared to the year before. That’s tens of millions of pounds being spent by way of smartphones and tablet PCs, suggesting that much of the western consumer population is slowly but surely beginning to trust mobile commerce.Tablets Come TopsAnother interesting stat concerned the split between smartphone and tablet PC use during the sales – data suggesting that around 11% of purchases were made via a tablet PC while just over 9% went to smartphone users. This has been attributed to the way in which larger touchscreens make it easier to shop online than their smaller counterparts – a split that is therefore guaranteed to shift as the average smartphone screen continues to grow.What It Means for RetailersIn terms of those in the e-commerce business and what all of this amounts to, it’s a simple case of acknowledging and understanding the fact that mobile web commerce represents the future for the industry. Not a niche, not an alternative and not a fad – the future of e-commerce. With each passing year, larger sections of the consumer public are using their mobile devices near-exclusively for both major and minor shopping purposes – even those out on the High Street check prices and listings online before choosing which shop to head into.Generally speaking, the statistics of Black Friday and Cyber Monday are anything but surprising, having simply confirmed the somewhat obvious predictions of economists and analysts prior to the events. But it’s not until the data is seen right there on paper that its true significance really leaps out and makes its presence known, which is precisely why the stats of this year’s Cyber Monday make for interesting and important reading to say the least.