12.7 billion dollars in “mobile” turnover
The “holiday season”, which is basically from the end of November to the beginning of January – resulted in a huge increase in mobile purchases, as the American consumer spent more on their smartphone or tablets than even before, according to market research firm ComScore Inc..
The total “mobile” turnover was 12.7 billion dollars (nearly 11.63 billion euro), up 59 % compared to the same time frame in 2014. ComScore had forecast an 11.7 billion dollar (10.71 billion euro) turnover, but even that amount proved to be too low.
“If there is an underlying takeaway from this holiday season, I think it will be remembered as the one where ‘mobile ate brick-and-mortar”, said Gian Fulgoni ComScore chairman emeritus, with a sense of exaggeration. He feels Americans grew tired of the traditionally long lines at the cash registers and took full advantage of the web shops’ interesting deals.
Computer sales below expectations
At the same time, online sales through desktop computers were well below expectations: turnover reached 56.4 billion dollars (51.64 billion euro), nearly 2 billion below the 58.3 billion dollars (53.38 billion euro) ComScore had predicted.
“Fairly early on it became clear that desktop e-commerce would likely underperform our expectations while mobile commerce was poised to over perform”, Fulgoni said. mCommerce represented nearly a fifth (18 %) of the total online turnover, a huge increase over the 13 % it managed in 2014’s holiday season.
