PayPal expects mobile holiday shopping to soar
AS OLDER folks set days aside to search the stores and push trolleys down aisles in the run-up to Christmas the mobile-first generation will be ticking off those lists while lying in bed, socialising and binge-watching television series.
So says the Nasdaq-listed electronic payments company PayPal, which released predictions for the upcoming shopping season on Thursday. The pioneer in online payments, which was founded in 1998, said the expected trends “highlight how technology is radically transforming the shopping experience and empowering people to spend money on their own terms”.
“Holiday shopping has grown beyond simply one button at one moment, now encompassing the freedom of mobile devices and the security and simplicity to make a purchase with confidence at a moment’s notice,” said Anuj Nayar, the head of global initiatives at PayPal. Customers are increasingly turning to their mobiles to shop and make payments.
Last year, 28 percent of the 4.9 billion payments that PayPal processed were made on a mobile device. Momentum has really picked up this year.
In October the company reported a 56 percent year-on-year increase in mobile payments in the quarter to the end of September. Reasons cited for this shift include shoppers turning to mobile to reduce stress. More people are also taking advantage of mobile devices to simplify their shopping. Others among PayPal’s 192 million active account holders say they are using their cellphone to “buy big” and make the most of Cyber Monday.
Second screens
Cyber Monday, the Monday after the Thanksgiving Holiday in the US, is one of the biggest online shopping days of the year, a trend that has spread well beyond the US. This year, PayPal expects more than $25 000 (R353 000) in total payment volume per second at the peak of Cyber Monday trading, with 40 percent of millennials said to be planning to shop on a mobile device that day.
And, rubbishing the idea that smartphone shopping is largely for stocking fillers, PayPal predicts the largest holiday transaction on mobile will be for more than $64 000. Research by PayPal, which is available in more than 200 markets and allows payment in more than 100 currencies, shows that more than ever before shoppers are being particular about how and when they shop. Or, perhaps more to the point, not caring where they will shop, with 22 percent of respondents saying they will shop on the toilet.
This represents an increase of 7 percentage points over 2014 and proof that not everything is better in the modern world. More than a third of respondents said that they expected to shop in bed for their partner or spouse while they were sleeping next to them.
Also interesting is what PayPal calls “the rise of the second screen”, with 59 percent of millennials planning to do holiday shopping while binge-watching television series. All that TV watching could also signal what’s on their wish lists with PayPal predicting consumers would spend more than $141 million on digital music and entertainment subscriptions through the service this season.
This “always on” generation of multi-taskers are also planning to combine shopping and socialising, which is no longer considered the faux pas it once was, especially if there is a bargain to be had. In general, one in five millennials will shop at the dinner table while with family and friends.
They are also a lot more gung-ho in other ways than their parents, with many saying they will happily have a drink while shopping for holiday gifts (and they don’t mean a cup of tea).
For those shoppers who buy something that doesn’t fit or is totally inappropriate in a way that only their drunk self appreciates, they will have to hope they shopped with an established, reputable service, such as Paypal, where even return shipping costs can be reimbursed. – ANA