To get a sense of how mobile devices have changed the holiday shopping experience, look no further than what Amazon and eBay offered their U.S. customers last week on Thanksgiving Day.
Each retailer featured deals on their respective mobile apps that were unavailable to consumers online. Amazon did this for the first time this year and it’s a move others are sure to follow now that the holiday shopping season officially begins on a mobile device hours before Thanksgiving dinner is served.
Last week’s frenzy was just the beginning of the mobile onslaught this holiday season. Cyber Monday now is a weeklong event for outlets such as Amazon. Super Saturday (the Saturday before Christmas Day) represents yet another opportunity for mobile sales. Christmas Eve is a cash cow for digital gift card providers, and Dec. 26 looms as another significant shopping day for consumers.
“There’s no doubt there will be recording-breaking years for mobile commerce, mobile payments and mobile marketing and promotions,” Ben Kaplan, CEO of digital gift card provider CashStar, told Mobile Payments Today in a recent interview. “I don’t think that even fully speaks to the impact mobile has in the daily lives of consumers and that it is influencing all aspects of shopping.”
