In a busy and complex world, where everyone and everything is connected by technology, experiences matter more than ever. Usability directly impacts the quality of an experience, while great experiences create the loyalty and trust that enable brands to grow and companies to thrive. Usablenet’s mission is to be a strategic partner to clients by creating and delivering great experiences across all channels.
| 26 NOVEMBER 2012 |
Upstart Business Journal Retailers bag Black Friday weekend across channels
One of the areas that certainly rose this year was mobile shopping. Data from Usablenet which powers the mobile sites and apps for big retailers including Walgreens (NYSE: WAG), Aeropostale (NYSE: ARO), and J.Crew, looked at mobile activity on Thanksgiving, finding that retailers with both mobile sites and apps saw traffic increase at a higher rate (117 percent) from 2011 to 2012 than retailers with mobile sites only (98 percent) and that 25 percent of mobile traffic came from apps.
“This holiday season retailers have made it easier for mobile shoppers by offering mobile-only deals, targeted in-store experiences and a more consistent experience across all channels,” said Usablenet chief marketing officer Carin van Vuuren, adding that smart engagement by retailers can help them take aim against showrooming.
A growing number of mobile browsers were buyers as well. On Black Friday, PayPal reported a 173 percent increase in mobile payment volume compared to last year, with the hours between noon and 1 p.m. Pacific Standard Time marking the busiest hour. Houston led the pack on mobile purchases via PayPal, followed by Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami and New York.
In the holiday sales postmortem it will be interesting to see whether stores like Target, Toys ‘R Us and others will deem the Thanksgiving Day openings—the subject of protests by the likes of Change.org—worth it or whether they just prompted shoppers to spread their money out over those four days versus three. But for that determination, we’ll have to wait until fourth-quarter results in January, because for all the attention to Black Friday weekend, the shopping season has just begun.
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