Mobile Devices and Holiday Shopping

It feels like the holidays are just around the corner, and each year I manage to be worse about getting ahead of that shopping.  I don't think EMBA is going to help my cause this year.  Thankfully, the internet as saved me both from schlepping to the stores and schlepping the goods from my apartment via public transportation to it's final destination be it Connecticut or San Francisco.  Personally, I've become exclusively dependent on the internet to find good deals for holiday shopping and free shipping.  However, I have yet to make a purchase via my phone.  

I found this article (Happy Holidays: Have Mobile, Ready To Shop) about the anticipated role that mobile devices will play in shopping very timely.  We might not have had Halloween yet, but I've already seen the holiday themed commercials (seems to me that Thanksgiving just get skipped!) 

There were a few interesting statistics cited:

• Omni-channel shoppers are likely to be the biggest spenders, and say the intend to spend $600, 71% more than store-only shoppers
• "Smartphone users will contribute 5% to store sales this year," [Deloitte vice chairman Alison Paul] says, "and consumers insist on connectivity.  They will leave stores if they don't have it.  And they're not just checking prices--they're also reading reviews, and photographing potential purchases to share with friends.  and overall, 68% of the survey's smartphone users say they intend to rely on them in some manner while shopping this holiday.  "In-store connectivity is an aid to shopping, not a detriment," says Paul, who leads Deloitte's retail and distribution sector.
• Some 45% intend to shop online; only discounted stores, where 51% plan to buy their gifts, are more popular.  And 11% of the survey, which included more than 5,000 adults say they will shop via a tablet

If I think about this, my first online christmas purchase probably happened 10 years ago.  Fast forward 10 years later it's exclusively done online.  I don't have a tablet, but if I did have one, I would definitely be one of these people who purchases via tablet.  I think direct purchases via smart phone are still in it's infancy.  However, the way the article describes poeple use their smartphones while shopping makes sense.  The internet has made the world a smaller place and comparison shopping/finding a deal much easier.  Plus, if you purchase online with a place that has free delivery, as long as it arrives in time, I believe that the convenience factor is even greater than picking something up in person.