A group of 26 retailers using the Branding Brand mobile commerce platform saw a marked increase in mobile business on Black Friday, the busy shopping day after Thanksgiving. For Black Friday 2012 compared with Black Friday 2011, m-commerce site visits for these retailers increased 101%, page views increased 99%, average order value decreased 7.46% and mobile sales increased 128%. The 26 retailers are part of the Branding Brand Mobile Commerce Index, which monitors smartphone-based shopping acitivity, and were tracked in both 2012 and 2011.
On Black Friday 2012, the 66 sites on the full index received 3.5 million visitors—63% on iPhones, 32% on Android devices and 5% on other smartphones. The sites received 20.7 million page views—62% on iPhones, 33% on Android devices and 5% on other devices. The merchants racked up 50,905 orders—69% on iPhones, 29% on Android devices and 2% on other devices. The average order value was $78.92—$80.37 on iPhones and $75.43 on Android devices. And 20.44% of total web traffic stemmed from smartphones.
Thanksgiving Day was a similar story. The m-commerce sites of the 26 retailers tracked in both 2012 and 2011 saw visits increase 103%, page views jump 133%, average order value swell 19% and mobile sales increase 221% year over year.
More than 3 million consumers visited the 66 retailers on the index on Thanksgiving—63% on iPhones, 32% on Android devices and 5% on other devices. There were 17.4 million page views—62% on iPhones, 33% on Android devices and 5% on other devices. The retailers received 29,880 orders—70% on iPhones, 29% on Android devices and 1% on other devices. The average order value was $81—$81 on iPhones and $80 on Android devices. And 20.25% of all web traffic came from smartphones.
Like the Branding Brand merchants, home furnishings and décor private sale e-retailer Joss & Main—not a Branding client—saw a big increase in mobile commerce this Black Friday. 40% of its sales stemmed from mobile devices, a 50% increase over last year’s Black Friday, the company reports.
“Mobile has always been a big winner for us and our members—we’ve consistently seen slightly more than a quarter of our revenue come from mobile shoppers on Fridays, but we were truly impressed that it came in at 40% on Black Friday, nearly the largest share we’ve ever seen on a weekday,” says John Mulliken, founder and general manager of Joss & Main. “Mobile commerce is much more refined and civilized than battling it out for deals in a store. Shoppers are looking for amazing savings and the Joss & Main mobile app makes it easier than ever to experience the thrill of deal-seeking in a truly sophisticated way.”
Joss & Main is run by home furnishings and décor e-retailer Wayfair.com, which more than doubled the percentage of revenue from mobile on Black Friday year over year. Wayfair.com did not divulge the exact figure.
On another mobile front, bar code scans through the ScanLife bar code reader app hit a record on Black Friday. Consumers with the free app on their smartphones scanned conventional one-dimensional Universal Product Code, or UPC, and two-dimensional Quick Response, or QR, codes more than 250,000 times, the busiest day to date for mobile bar code scanning through ScanLife. The most popular QR code marketing campaign produced by ScanLife delivered a promotional rebate offer for a DVD, ScanLife reports. The company did not disclose which DVD.
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