‘Tis the season for self-indulgent mobile shopping: Half of Christmas day purchases are gifts from ‘me-to-me’
- 62% of online purchases made on Christmas Day in the UK take place on a smartphone – making Christmas Day the busiest day of the year for mobile shopping
- Over half of Christmas Day mobile shoppers buy for themselves, as they hit the sales for the presents Santa didn’t bring
London – November 22, 2016 – Criteo (NASDAQ: CRTO), the performance marketing technology company, today reveals that Christmas Day is the busiest day for mobile shopping in the UK. Nearly two thirds (62%) of online purchases made on Christmas Day are carried out using a smartphone. On a day that is usually spent opening presents from others, over half (52%) of shoppers in the UK are actually buying items for themselves on their phones.
As consumers up and down the country visit family and friends for Christmas, the mobile phone becomes the device enabling them to take advantage of retailers’ festive offers with just 28% of shoppers opting to buy on a desktop. While Black Friday sees the biggest peaks in sales volume (246%), Christmas day sees the mobile phone used more than at any other time of the year with two out of three transactions completed on a smartphone in between unwrapping presents and eating turkey. Top of the selfie shopper’s list on the 25th of December: fashion and luxury items which see a 11% spike in purchases on the big day.
The findings are part of a new UK-wide ICM consumer study exploring the consumer buying behavior behind the busy Black Friday to Christmas period in the UK and Criteo data from November to December 2015. This information examines the ways consumers in the UK shop before, during and even after Christmas and provide insight into the peaks of sales activity during the busiest shopping days:
- Mega Mondays: Post-Black Friday and Cyber Monday, the first day of the week proves the most popular December shopping day with sales spikes of up to 15% occurring on the Mondays before Christmas. With weekends spent seeing family and friends before the big day, Monday is likely to be the day most are able to start thinking about presents. What’s more, with a host of delivery options, Monday also gives shoppers the most flexibility when it comes to discreet delivery, saving the big surprise for Christmas Day.
- From browsing to buying, the smartphone sales snowball driven by social media: 73% of consumers say they used mobile devices to actively browse and search mobile sites/apps for ideas and inspiration about gifts during the 2015 holiday season. 43% of shoppers aged 18-24 years old say they spend the most time looking for ideas and inspiration on social media sites. Acting on impulse is also commonplace at this time of year with 30% of consumers saying that they intend to purchase items on their smartphones in spare moments throughout the day in the build-up to the big day.
- Apps to Santa: With social media and online wish lists enabling Christmas shoppers to compile lists of desires all year round, the humble letter to Santa has evolved for the digital age with 22% of people using apps, online lists or social media as their main Christmas list.
“Today, smartphones sit at the heart of our Christmas shopping activity. From browsing to buying, our devices are a constant and essential part of the way we manage this busy shopping period,” said Gregory Gazagne, EVP EMEA at Criteo. “For retailers, it’s clear that effective mobile marketing is all they should want for Christmas. Even when we think the shopping has ended and the stores have closed on Christmas Day, consumers all over the country are turning back to their phones to take advantage of early deals, avoid the queues and buy things that Santa did not bring.”
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Notes to editors:
This report is based on the findings of an ICM survey of 2,023 adults in the UK aged 18+, between the 18th and 20th May 2016. Interviews were conducted across the country and the results have been weighted to the profile of adults. ICM is a member of the British Polling Council.
Sales data is taken from Criteo proprietary sales data from November – December 2015.
Media Contact:
Criteo Public Relations
Emma Ferns, Global PR Director, e.ferns@criteo.com
David Puddle, Nelson Bostock Unlimited, 0207 985 1110, criteo@nelsonbostockunlimited.com</>
