Nearly 170 million will shop ‘Cyber Week,’ most online traffic will be mobile

According to the National Retail Federation, 164 million Americans will be shopping online and in physical stores over the five day period from Thanksgiving to Cyber Monday. This estimate is based on a consumer survey (n= 7,516) conducted by Prosper Insights & Analytics.

Black Friday will see most shoppers. Here’s the anticipated breakdown of shoppers by day:

• Thanksgiving — 34 million.
• Black Friday — 116 million.
• Small business Saturday — 67 million.
• Sunday — 32 million.
• Cyber Monday — 75 million.

These are statements of consumer intent, and we’ll see over the next few days how the actual numbers play out.

Mobile traffic vs. mobile conversions. Another interesting question this year will be how much of e-commerce happens on mobile devices. Last year, according to Adobe, a majority of traffic to retail websites was driven by mobile devices, but less than 40 percent of transactions on Black Friday happened on smartphones or tablets.

Generational breakdown of mobile shoppers

Source: Oath holiday shopping survey of 1,000 US adults (2018)

Will the mobile traffic-conversions gap close this year? Somewhat, is the likely answer. That’s because smartphone owners visiting retail websites on smartphones are often checking deals or prices and then purchasing in stores.

However, a new survey from Verizon’s Oath found the percentage of people who intend to purchase directly on mobile devices this year has grown, especially among Millennials. Millennials are also more likely than others to shop in stores and then buy on their mobile devices.

Generational online and offline shopping behaviors 

Source: Oath holiday shopping survey of 1,000 US adults (2018)

Why you should care. Any retailer that doesn’t have an easy-to-use mobile site is going to suffer this holiday season. In addition, if there is any friction in checkout flows or payment processing sales will likely be lost. Amazon should also be a major beneficiary of an increase in mobile shopping and buying. Accordingly, marketers advertising on Amazon should also benefit.

About The Author

Greg Sterling

Greg Sterling is a Contributing Editor at Search Engine Land. He writes a personal blog, Screenwerk, about connecting the dots between digital media and real-world consumer behavior. He is also VP of Strategy and Insights for the Local Search Association. Follow him on Twitter or find him at Google+.