Mobilising spare Christmas moments
The when of mobile shopping this festive season
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As in the US, globally people buy more on mobile during traditional commute hours, once they've signed out from work. As we see in this data, when people would otherwise only have been commuting, now they're also shopping. This speaks to a seemingly universal mindset: 35% of surveyed shoppers worldwide say their mobile phone will help them get things done during the spare moments of the festive season.
Mobile conversions grow when people are on the go1
Christmas 2016 Proportion of conversions (%)
People shop more on mobile when off the clock
People's weekday habits trickle into their weekends, when people start buying more on mobile compared to desktop.
Across online transactions visible to Facebook, we see mobile conversions rise every weekend during the festive season, compared to desktop conversions. The share of mobile conversions visible to Facebook is in the range of 43-58%, with a total share of 50% during weekdays. But this number jumps to between 53-62%, with a total of 56%, at the weekend.2 This behaviour plays out in every region: in fact, in North America and Europe, share of mobile overtakes share of desktop conversions.
Mobile conversions eclipse desktop conversions at the weekend3
Holidays are moving around the world
In addition to seeing mobile shopping rise at the weekend, we're seeing both desktop and mobile commerce concentrate on specific days during the Christmas holidays – and not just the ones you'd expect.
As we've noted before, technological advancements – as well as changes in behaviour – happen at different times in different places. This means that the "future" of one market is often the "now" of another. This is particularly true for new shopping holidays, especially those that thrive online and aren't connected to a national tradition or religion.
Because of this, we are seeing established online shopping holidays on the move from East to West. As Black Friday shoppers move increasingly online, retailers and people continue to embrace it across the globe.4 In 2015, we saw 1 in 4 people surveyed shopping on Black Friday. In 2016, that number had climbed to nearly 1 in 3 across countries surveyed.
Established Western shopping holidays are moving East5
Black Friday is now celebrated by 1 in 3 people around the world, up from 1 in 4 last year
2016 online conversions visible to Facebook (normalised to 1 November)
But the story doesn't end there as new holidays make moves from East to West. Case in point: "11/11" on 11 November, known as Singles Day to celebrate those who are indeed single, is a modern Chinese holiday that has been co-opted by online retailers. Today, it's one of the biggest online shopping days in the world. Its popularity has even spread to other countries in Asia-Pacific, Europe and even North America. Today, the following countries are leading the way for 11/11: Spain, Thailand, Hong Kong and the Philippines.6
New Eastern shopping holidays are moving West7
Singles Day, 11/11, is now among the biggest online shopping days in the world
2016 online conversions visible to Facebook (normalised to 1 November)
What it means for marketers
Design for one-minute, one-hand shopping
People are buying from their phones while on the go and off the clock. So it's no wonder that, in these frenzied environments, it's mobile shortcuts – like express or mobile-optimised checkouts – that keep people coming back for more. With 30% of surveyed shoppers worldwide saying they use their mobile device for holiday shopping because it's more convenient than going to a shop, efficiency is the new competitive advantage.
Get ahead of new shopping holidays
Online-driven shopping holidays without ties to national traditions or religions are ripe for going global. Keep a look out for these fast-growing but still new holidays, like Singles Day. One way to explore trends is to identify the behaviours of other regional marketers exporting into your region. For example, the emergence of Singles Day in Spain is partly due to imports from China.
Read on to see the who and the why of mobile shopping during the Christmas season.
Source unless otherwise specified: "Facebook 2016 Holiday Study" by Ipsos Marketing (Facebook-commissioned online study of 20,824 people ages 18+ across 17 markets (AU, AR, BR, CA, DE, ES, FR, GB, HK, IT, JP, KR, MX, PH, PL, TH and the US)), Jan 2017.
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