Taking the findings from more than 400 online retailers, Rakuten Affiliate Network found that Mother’s Day-based purchases via smartphones increased by 169 per cent in 2014, and by 57 per cent via tablets.
The data makes it abundantly clear that retailers are missing out on a huge opportunity to capitalise if their online presence isn’t clearly optimised to support customers that are using mobile devices.
Indeed, Rakuten’s study comes following a 9 March report from the Digital High Street Advisory Board, which saw Google, the British Retail Consortium and O2 among the companies in support of a five-year plan to reinvigorate UK high streets with digital technology.
Rakuten client Bloom & Wild delivers ‘letterbox flowers’ and is predicted to experience a 148 per cent spike in sales this year, compared to 2014. However, fashion goods are likely to be the most common gifts given to mothers, as apparel and accessories were the highest performing sectors in 2013 and 2012, followed by luxury items and beauty.
According to the research, shoppers will usually look to make purchases six or seven days ahead of Mother’s Day before peaking with just a couple of days to go, so retailers should expect to see sales climbing throughout the week, which highlights the last-minute shopping trend something that mobiles can facilitate.
Read more on mobile commerce:
- UK mobile commerce spend to rocket 77.8 per cent in 2015
- Can UK retailers ever fully meet the digital demands of online shoppers
- Mobile commerce woos British consumers for Valentines Day as retailers’ sales soar
Mark Haviland, MD, Rakuten Marketing Europe, said: We all know that in fact every day is Mothers Day, or at least thats what I tell my sons, but this weekend is when we like to show extra affection. And the numbers back that up; we saw sales rise by a quarter year on year in 2014.
But with mobile growing so fast too, that affection is coming as we multi-task, so brands have to be fast and nimble to get the right offers to loyal sons and daughters wherever they are. We dont have to wait till we get home/to the office; we can act on the move and thats how many of us are shopping these days.
Image via Shutterstock.
