IMRG are expecting Christmas Day sales online to top £350m with Boxing Day exceeding £540m, resulting in the Christmas Holiday period being worth over £890m as shoppers ‘multi-screen‘ whilst watching the holiday films.
With tablet and other mobile devices being the ‘must-have gift‘ for Christmas 2013, retailers are preparing themselves for a busy mobile Christmas Day and Boxing Day as the new devices are taken for a ‘road test‘. Mobile devices are now driving the majority of the growth as new shoppers engage online for the first time, which in itself will help deliver sales via mobile devices of £100m on Christmas Day and over £140m on Boxing Day.
According to the IMRG Quarterly Benchmarking, visits to retailers‘ websites via mobile devices now account for a massive 38 per cent of total visits, up 58 per cent on the same period last year, demonstrating that tablets and smartphones really are changing the way we shop.
Andrew McClelland, COO of IMRG said: “Mobile device usage really is changing the way we shop. Online always used to be mutually exclusive and not always consistent with the High Street. Smartphones, accounting for 20 per cent of mobile-enabled sales on retailers‘ websites, really are helping customers shop whilst on the move. Tablets are also accelerating this mobile change, lowering the barriers to entry, with prices continuing to fall, their design and interfaces being less intimidating and truly being ‘always on‘ so we, as shoppers can now truly shop when-ever and where-ever we want”.
Chris Webster, Vice President, Retail, Capgemini, commented: “With the launch of budget tablets, improved m-commerce sites and greater connectivity than ever before, 2013 really has been the year of the mobile. It comes as no surprise then that Christmas and Boxing Day will mark a high-point for what has been a remarkable 12 months. With the growth of m-retail, surfing for festive bargains on your tablet while watching the Dr Who Christmas special will become as traditional in UK homes as the Queen‘s Speech.”
