eBay has taken a look at the numbers, and it looks like Cyber Monday was huge for shoppers using their mobile devices to make purchases. Could there be a better signifier than the future of mobile commerce? After all, PayPal has been saying for weeks that it will see close to $700 million in mobile transactions through its service.
This Cyber Monday, eBay saw a 146% increase in mobile transactions compared to last year, which is some tremendous growth and quite impressive when considering how quickly this trend has been adopted. Of course, mobile payment applications like PayPal and increased ownership of smartphones over the last year certainly helped.
eBay says:
The strong growth in mobile holiday shopping reflects increasing consumer adoption of mobile commerce, with eBay mobile expecting to generate more than $1.5 billion in gross merchandise volume in 2010, compared to $600 million in 2009.
Initially, it seemed that the greatest barrier to increased mobile commerce were security issues, but apparently it isn’t so. Growing from $600 million to an expected $1.5 billion in just a year shows that eBay was right in saying mobile payments are the safest way to go. Here are some interesting trends delineated by eBay about Cyber Monday:
U.S. Mobile Trends for U.S. Thanksgiving Holiday Week, Through Cyber Monday
- In the U.S., cars & trucks topped the list of products purchased by mobile phones, based on total mobile GMV.
- Cell phone & PDA accessories and women’s clothing led in terms of total number of transactions.
U.S. Regional Leaders in Holiday Week Mobile Shopping
- During Nov. 22 through Nov. 29, the most money was spent using mobile phones in California, Texas, New York, Florida, and Pennsylvania.
- California was the most active state in both sales volume and number of transactions.
- The clothing & accessories category accounted for the highest percentage of mobile sales in California, followed in order by cars & trucks, sporting goods, auto parts, and cell phones & PDA accessories.
For more details on eBay’s Cyber Monday trends, check out the press release on the next page.