Holiday Retail Mobile Insights

Now that the final days of summer have come to an end, retailers are in the thick of planning for the busy holiday shopping season.  As you start to plan your campaigns, it's important to take a step back and look at how consumers are using their mobile and tablet devices to drive in-store and on-device purchases.  Here are a few insights that may surprise you:

• We project that this year 15% of total “Black Friday” searches will be from mobile devices based on historical growth rates.
• Many advertisers do not realize that mobile users actively search for last minute holiday gifts and to locate stores to purchase these last minute gifts.  In fact, we project that 44% of total searches for last minute gifts and store locator terms will be from mobile devices this holiday season based on historical growth rates.  
• In fact, looking back on the past two holiday seasons, we see a “double peak” in search volumes for retail brands around first Black Friday and then the week before Christmas as mobile users locate stores for last minute shopping.  These shoppers may have missed the deadline for free shipping and are motivated to locate and shop at brick and mortar locations.  Here is the data from the holiday season in 2009 & 2010 showing this double peak:

• The important thing to keep in mind is that these mobile searches drive in-store purchases: 65% of high end device users report that they have used their device to find a business, and then made a purchase at that business in person according our holiday retail survey of users in the AdMob network.
• Retailers should be sure to plan for the tablet audience when it comes to driving on-device conversions.  Ebay has stated that tablet users spend 50% more than PC users, have higher AOV, and have higher or equivalent conversion rates.
• According to our survey, greater than 33% of both smartphone users and tablet users plan to start their shopping before Thanksgiving, so smart marketers will start their campaigns early this year to reach these consumers.

Whether your goals are branding or direct response, Google Mobile Ads can help you with strategies to reach and engage your target audience and drive customers to convert on tablets, on mobile devices, and in your stores.  Contact your Google Mobile Ads sales representative to learn more.

Posted by Johanna Werther, Sr. Product Marketing Manager, Mobile Ads