Black Friday: Mobile Shopping Could Go Mainstream This Thanksgiving

There's been a loud clamor against retailers opening their doors on Thanksgiving -- we're looking at you, Target -- but backlash over the early openings might be the least of big box retailers' worries.

For a certain segment of shopper, the holiday buying rush is no longer a race to those stores' parking lots. Christmas shopping instead begins on the couch on Thanksgiving via an iPhone,Droid, iPad or other mobile device.

PayPal, the online payment company, saw a nearly 300 percent increase in mobile spending on Thanksgiving between 2009 and 2010. And this year could see an even bigger rise, the company says.

The PayPal numbers suggest that prime shopping hours are switching from Friday to Thursday, but some say mobile has expanded Black Friday into an entire month. "It is turning into a Black November," says Colin Sebastian, a senior research analyst with Baird Research & Insights. "A lot of the stores -- not just e-commerce, but big box stores too -- are offering [deals] through the month. This idea that sales come all in one day is outmoded."

The pressure to compete with mobile spending is one reason why the big box stores announced earlier hours and targeted online-shopping strategies this year. Toys "R" Us is opening at 9 p.m. in some areas, Walmart at 10 p.m. A slew of other big box stores, including Target and Best Buy, are aiming for the midnight shopping rush.

Meanwhile, web retailers are getting into the Black Friday game. High-end internet retailer Gilt Groupe is promoting sales starting at 6 a.m. on Friday and eBay, which owns PayPal, is setting up mobile hubs and food trucks in shopping districts in San Francisco and New York with free WiFi and downloadable shopping apps to engage smartphone consumers.

The mobile shopping rush is quickly shifting the way people are consuming goods and how retailers are lining up to capture that evolving business. The top mobile merchants, lead by Amazon.com, are expected to generate more than $5.3 billion in sales through mobile devices in 2011 -- double last year -- according to an estimate by Barclay's Capital in a report earlier this year.

And it's not just people shopping through mobile. Small businesses and retailers receiving electronic payments through mobile devices are increasing too. Vendors using Square, a year-old card-reading technology made for smartphones and tablets, can capture and process payments pretty much anywhere. And transactions using the service are growing quickly -- In August the company was processing $4 million a day; earlier this month, the company reported having its first $10 million day.

The thrust toward mobile shopping this year also underscores a growing information divide between different consumers. As many as 43 percent of people with mobile phones use smartphones, according to Nielson, and using their devices, those consumers can quickly compare prices, access product reviews and/or make a purchase.

However, for Black Friday, that advantage could be moot. Post-Thanksgiving deals are usually inked well before sales day, said Sucharita Mulpuru, a principal analyst for Forrester Research, and last-minute cost comparisons on popular products are unlikely to reveal much variation in price. Even as mobile edges in on brick-and-mortar territory, standing in line at 2 a.m. has at least one major upside to mobile shopping.

"The benefit is getting the product immediately," says Mulpuru. "There is also the sport of it and the tradition of it."

Comments

[KillmyPC]

01:24 PM on 11/23/2011

The cool thing about Black Friday is that http://killmypc.com is offering a reverse deal: Destroy your computer by time (they show exactly how to do it), so you could buy a new one...

http://killmypc.com/?p=391

[fortressfountain]

02:38 PM on 11/22/2011

Why is it necessary to open at 12.00 am on Thanksgiving so a few lunes can shop? Why don't the top executives of the company go to work and wait on the customers?
They do not care about the customers unless they are spending money-when they return-the stores do not want to replace the merchandise or the cash.
What will be next-opening on Christmas day?
The stores do not give bonuses or commissions so the employees do not care.

[ShawnRay]

08:19 AM on 11/22/2011

I like buying local and I am part of our local co-op here in town. I buy from the cheapest retailer. Whoever has the lowest prices and best quality wins. I shop for groceries at my co-op, the farmers market, direct from the orchards and farms. That also includes four different grocery chains. My wife bought 100$ from safeway yesterday and they gave her 2 turkeys. There is always a deal

[urturn]

11:25 PM on 11/21/2011

These corporations continuously lobby, spending billions to prevent unionization at their stores, while convincing the masses they need to buy more stuff they don't need and can't afford.

Money spent locally, helps the community; money spent in the big box/chain stores; not so much.

Shop local on Friday and Saturday.

=^.,.^=

[LynnW49]

10:11 PM on 11/21/2011

Feed the corporate beast that is consuming America, or buy local.
And ask if you really need the crap in the first place.

[UTHeretic]

09:54 PM on 11/21/2011

No longer is "black Friday" enough. Now we're creeping towards "Black Thanksgiving" Oh hell why not "Black Wednesday", or just plain old "Black November First"? Go ahead everyone and act like robotic droids and listen to the commands of your Dark Overloads...the American Retailers.

[SDLee]

07:19 PM on 11/21/2011

Just a reminder: Support your fellow wage earners by boycotting Black Friday. Let the stores know you won't enable policies abusive to retail workers.