In a report released on Wednesday, eBay confirmed its mobile sales are on the rise. The online auction destination boasts of 30 million downloads of its mobile applications across the globe. People are not letting this app sit idle on their handset, they are using it to buy and buy in volume. U.S. mobile sales for the holidays (November 25 – December 25) grew 134% year over year, reaching an impressive $100 million in Gross Merchandising value (GMV). Global mobile sales also climbed 166% to reach $230 million in GMV.
As we have seen in other markets, the debut of the iPad and the iPhone had an effect on eBay mobile sales. According to the report, eBay’s consumer electronics category reached its yearly peak on April 5th, the day after the iPad hit the shelves. The cell phones & accessories category reached its annual peak on June 24th, the same day the iPhone 4 made its debut in the U.S. Fashion is also a popular category for eBay mobile shoppers – the category ranked number one for both GMV and sold items in the U.S. during the month leading up to Christmas.
Besides the U.S., mobile shopping is also popular in Canada, France, Germany, Australia and the United Kingdom. While you may think most mobile shoppers are tech enthusiasts using eBay to score a case for their phone or the latest tablet, eBay’s data suggests otherwise. Surprisingly, the top categories for shopping in the U.S. and globally were clothing & accessories and cars & trucks. Don’t believe me? Check it out for yourself. According to eBay, the top categories by sales for the top six countries are as follow:
- Canada: clothing & accessories, jewelry and cars & trucks
- France: clothing & accessories, jewelry and computers
- Germany: auto parts, cars & trucks and clothing & accessories
- Australia: cars & trucks, home improvement and clothing & accessories
- United Kingdom: cars & trucks, clothing & accessories and auto parts
- United States: cars & trucks, clothing & accessories and auto parts
There is no doubt mobile shopping is on the rise, from Groupon to PayPal to eBay, smartphone owners are using their handset to make purchases. Look for this trend to increase in 2011, especially as NFC technology begins to take off.
[Via Reuters and eBay]