New data from Monetate reveals mobile traffic, from a combination of tablets and smartphones, accounted for 44.03% of all online traffic on Thanksgiving, an increase of 19.16 percent year over year.
The retail personalisation technology provider, which has analysed online transactions over Thanksgiving in light of early holiday deals, also reported that 28.06% of all online sales were completed via mobile devices, an increase of 16.63 percent year on year.
Monetate found online shoppers are not solely enticed by Black Friday and Cyber Monday offers, with many beginning their online Christmas shopping earlier than the holiday sale season.
Intent to purchase
Lucinda Duncalfe, CEO at Monetate, commented on the rise of online Thanksgiving purchases, with a noticeable increase in intent to purchase.
“Consumers are no longer waiting for Cyber Monday to do their online shopping. Encouraged by retailers moving up online deals earlier in the week to Thanksgiving day, consumer online traffic, conversions, revenue per session and AOV all increased significantly over last year,” stated Duncalfe.
“Additionally, cart abandonment and bounce rates are both down as well, showing consumers are going online with the intent to purchase rather than browsing.”
Rise of the phablet
According to the data, smartphones and tablets aren’t the only devices contributing to high conversion rates.
E-commerce traffic on phablets rose almost 250% between Q3 2013 and Q3 2014.
The phablet, a device which falls between the smartphone and tablet – such as the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 or the Nokia Lumia 1520 – has proved popular with business professionals and travellers, bookworms and entertainment enthusiasts, reveals mobile app advertising and analytics platform Flurry.
According to data collected by Monetate, Phablets’ larger screen size contributes to a higher conversion rate of 94% over smaller smartphones, which sits at 88%.
Phablets are expected to contribute to purchase decisions in a far bigger way than in previous holiday seasons, and this could be set to rise with 48% of smartphone buyers planning to opt for a phablet in 2014, according to a recent survey from Accenture.