Mobile devices boost Christmas & New Year sales for online retailers
According to one of the UK’s largest online retailers, Shop Direct, recent sales figures for the pre and post Christmas period have exceeded all previous predictions; citing the boost in numbers as a direct result of increasing tablet and smartphone usage amongst consumers.
These figures substantiate findings from Brocade’s recent December 2011 survey – http://tinyurl.com/7yjhjt8 – highlighting the increasing popularity of mobile devices with consumers when shopping.
Chief executive at Shop Direct, Mark Newton Jones commented: “Sales in the six weeks to 31st December increased nine per cent, up from six per cent in the same period a year ago, and we have experienced good post-Christmas sales too.” He went on to say: “Trade has been boosted by shoppers’ use of tablet computers, such as iPad and mobile phones, as they become increasingly comfortable and confident with making purchases this way.”
Shop Direct has seen sales via smartphones and tablet computers increase by some 40 per cent, now attributing for eight per cent of all overall sales made. In addition to this, high street giants Next and Waitrose have also both indicated that their online sales have outstripped high-street sales.
Marcus Jewell, Brocade UK county manager commented: “The recent news from Shop Direct, Next and Waitrose is encouraging for the economy on the whole, and goes a long way to confirming that which we also found towards the end of 2011.
“According to our survey, 86 per cent of consumers now use their mobile devices to do their Christmas shopping online, and nearly 70 per cent of people are only prepared to wait a maximum of 20 seconds for a web page to load before going to another retailer.
“The trend toward increasing online dependency and mobile device usage are backed up by today’s announcements from retailers, and serves to once again highlight the critical importance of IT to business. The need for resilient, scalable and efficient networks and IT infrastructure, capable of handling the demands of 21st Century business with everything from; internal business and operations, to website hits, and customer payment requests, are now more essential than ever before,” finished Jewell.
