Every day is more common to observe how consumers are always connected through mobile devices to look for information about a product or service that they are interested in purchasing. This is a habit that has been increasing over the years due to the way mobile applications allow us to communicate, search for an offer, a product review or making our lives easier when we shop online.

According to a 2016 Holiday Shopping & mobile marketing trends survey made by SessionM, 46% of the smartphones users reported they were planning to shop with their mobile device this season, 42% said they were going to use a mobile to compare prices in different stores, and 46% also said they were going to use it to search for deals or sales.

Statista has informed about other ways of mobile usage as of september 2016, including: to get store locations,to  get product information, to check product availability, to be able to access social media, or to get exclusive deals from retailers.

Mobile usage in holidays seasons

Mobile usage and consumption behavior

Today, we know for sure mobile marketing is important. For a better understanding here are some insights of how consumers have adopted mobile devices in the last years.

This is a great opportunity for retailers to benefit from this consumption behavior as they make their websites, products, prices or special discounts more accessible to potential customers through mobile apps.   

Holiday sales has been rising steadily since 2009 and the projection for 2016 is about $655 billions. That represents business opportunities for retailers as they work on improving customer engagement and loyalty: consumers feel more encouraged by brands via coupons and loyalty programs, for example.

Besides, some other important trends about consumption behavior related to mobiles have been detected by Google in the last year. According to this, Youtube is an important source for consumers looking for an advice about what to buy or how to find the perfect gift.

In a highly saturated market people may feel overwhelmed by the options; as a result, they use their mobiles to search for the best: an increase of 50% on Google searches about “best products” has been registered in the last year.

Season of opportunities

Now, in order to get the best from this season, it is recommended to have a plan for your business that involves the development and marketing of your app. You need to remember something vital for app business: people usually download an app because they want to simplify their daily tasks.

In this season, that means finding efficient ways to buy what they are looking for, as they save time and money. Simplify the shopping process is the added value you contribute to the product as an app developer.

Of course, you also have to consider the best practices to get the most of holiday season, such as: improving your app user experience, detecting the most profitable days of the season to build a strategy, or engaging customers by creating attractive product ads to offer special discounts, promo codes or free shipping.

Mobile is key in the purchase decision              

It is true people still value touching a product before purchasing it, and in some cases, customers may still be concerned about providing personal information due to security reasons. As a result, shoppers usually prefer not to buy online.

However, mobile usage has been increasing notably in the consumer’s habits. It’s now an important tool to rely on in moments of need.  

They are influenced by other people who know about the product they are looking for. In stores, 82% of smartphone users turn to their devices to help them make a product decision.

As stated before, Holiday Season can be overwhelming when it comes to purchasing, and people have started to realize how mobile devices help them either through a product review or getting in-app coupons.