There are a variety of reasons why Black Friday sales are back to where they were pre-recession: consumers are feeling more confident; companies are offering more and more doorbuster deals to entice customers; and companies are starting offer the same great in-store deals online, which allows consumers to shop from the comfort of their homes. But perhaps the biggest driver of Black Friday sales is the surge of mobile devices and the ability for consumers to purchase items right from their trusty smartphones or tablets.
In fact, out of the $1.512 billion in sales that United States retailers wracked in on Black Friday this year, mobile commerce sales accounted for nearly 21 percent, at $314 million, and about 17 percent of Cyber Monday sales, $350 million out of $2.085 billion, according to Internet research firm comScore. In other words, mobile commerce accounted for one in five digital dollars, or 18.5 percent, spent during those two days. According to comScore industry pundits, this number is “significant… because that percentage is far higher than we’ve ever seen in our quarterly spending data.”
It comes as no surprise, however, that mobile commerce is on the rise especially with the number of smartphones increasing exponentially. In fact, 80 percent of the world’s population now has a mobile phone; 89 percent of smartphone users use their devices throughout the day; and 84 percent use their phone for Internet browsing, according to an infographic compiled by Go-Globe.com. With mobile commerce becoming exceedingly ubiquitous, it is more paramount than ever for e-commerce platforms to test the performance and uptime of their mobile applications, as well as their everyday websites.
To learn more about the importance of teaming with an application hosting provider to ensure the peak performance of your mobile platform—and how Mentora can help—click here.
