CNBC’s Consumer Nation news weighed in with RichRelevance on the growth in mcommerce.
…Once everyone opens those new tablets during the holidays they can join the new shopping revolution: mcommerce. In the last nine months, the share of U.S. online retail dollars attributable to mobile devices has doubled from 1.87 percent in April of 2011 to 3.74 percent in December 2011, according to RichRelevance, a company that assists retailers with ecommerce sites.
The firm also tracked an increase in the portion of page views coming from mobile devices, with more than 15 percent of all shopping seasons occurring on mobile devices. This past April, just under 9 percent of all shoppers were browsing digital aisles via a mobile device, RichRelevance said. By December, the share has more than doubled, reaching 18 percent of all consumers.
iPad and iPhone shoppers account for 90% of all mobile purchases; spend 19% more per order than Android users
San Francisco, CA – Dec. 21, 2011 – Retailers will ring in the New Year next week having wrapped up a successful holiday shopping season that saw consumers utilizing more channels to interact with their stores – predominantly through mobile devices. This is a trend that will continue to accelerate with more than 90 million smartphone users and 24 million tablet users in the US. In this changing technology landscape, RichRelevance, the global leader in dynamic personalization for Retail, today released its inaugural Holiday Shopping Study to give companies new insight into how these consumers shop and buy. The study analyzes 3.4 billion shopping sessions between April and December to uncover the trends that have shaped Holiday 2011 and will define 2012.
“The numbers across our retailing partners sites demonstrate just how powerful the iOS platform is enabling mobile web shopping and, while still below 5 percent in total conversion, mobile traffic’s doubling in eight months is a trend we only see accelerating,” said David Selinger, CEO of RichRelevance. “In order to succeed in this dynamic market, retailers and brands must ensure they are addressing relevance throughout the channels where people are shopping, ensuring a seamless experience across the interplay of device, context and consumer behavior.”
Key findings from the Holiday Shopping Study include:
• Mobile Continues Strong 9-Month Growth: In the last nine months, the share of U.S. online retail dollars attributable to mobile devices has doubled from 1.87 percent in April of 2011 to 3.74 percent in December 2011. RichRelevance also tracked a spectacular increase in mobile traffic as share of commerce page views with more than 15 percent of shopping sessions occurring on mobile devices. In April of 2011, just under 9 percent of all shoppers were browsing digital aisles via a mobile device. By December of 2011, the share has more than doubled, reaching 18 percent of all consumers.
• Mobile Percentage of Overall Sales: Shoppers purchasing from their mobile devices represented just over 3 percent of total sales.
• Thanksgiving And Weekends: After enjoying their holiday meal, consumers got busy shopping and jumped online: on Thanksgiving, 24 percent of all shoppers were on a mobile device, the highest share of online shopping between Nov 1 and Dec 18. In general, weekends and holidays are prime time for mobile shopping: for the six week period from Nov 1 to Dec 18 on average 14 percent of shoppers were on mobile devices. On weekends it jumps up a notch: on both Saturday and Sunday, 17 percent of the browsers are on mobile devices.
• iPad and iPhone Dominate Mobile Shopping: Apple mobile devices account for the bulk of all online non-desktop sales: just over 92% of the sales originated from an iPad or an iOS-enabled device in December 2011, up from 88 percent in April. Apple mobile devices also have a larger AOV compared to other mobile platforms ($123 for Apple vs. $101 for Android in December 2011) – and far outstrip desktop orders ($87)
• Average Order Value Slips – But Mobile Stays Strong: Overall average order value (AOV) declined beginning in November 2011, due to economic factors and the influx of shoppers during the holiday period when there are more buyers and orders tend to be frequent and smaller. However the AOV on mobile devices remained stronger. In April, desktop and mobile-originated online average order sales (AOV) were neck-and-neck ($149 and $153, respectively). Now, in mid-December, mobile AOV is averaging $120 compared with desktop orders, which have slid to $110.
The Holiday Shopping Study analyzes the shopping patterns of US online consumers. The study is based on more than 3.4 billion online shopping sessions, which took place between April 1, 2011 and December 18, 2011 on the web sites of US online retailers. These retailers include mass merchants, as well as small and specialty retailers, including 10 of the 25 largest retailers on the web.
About RichRelevance
RichRelevance powers personalized shopping experiences for the world’s largest and most innovative retail brands, including Walmart, Sears, Target and others. Founded and led by the e-commerce expert who helped pioneer personalization at Amazon.com, RichRelevance helps retailers increase sales and customer engagement by recommending the most relevant products to consumers regardless of the channel they are shopping. RichRelevance has delivered more than $3 billion in attributable sales for its retail clients to date, and is accelerating these results with the introduction of a new form of digital advertising called Shopping Media which allows manufacturers to engage shoppers where it matters most – in the digital aisles on the largest retail sites in world. RichRelevance is headquartered in San Francisco, with offices in New York, Seattle, Boston and London. For more information, please visit www.richrelevance.com
RichRelevance’s CEO David Selinger was featured in this recent executive careers article by the Wall Street Journal.
Like most executives, Sanjeev Nikore had managerial faults. But unlike most executives, he publicly divulged them to fellow staffers.
The result? A promotion.
RichRelevance, which offers personalized product recommendations and sells advertising around them on websites for such retailers as Walmart Stores and Target, plans to acquire Searchandise Commerce, which sells the equivalent of search ads and creates virtual end-cap displays on e-commerce sites. The deal is intended to create a more comprehensive offering for online-shopper marketing.
Neither the terms of the deal, expected to close this month, nor the companies’ sales were disclosed. But RichRelevance said the combined companies will serve 10 of the 25 biggest retailers on the web, also including Sears. The company also said its Shopping Media platform serves personalized recommendations and advertising with more than 1.4 billion page views monthly and has delivered more than $3 billion in attributable sales for retail clients since its launch a year ago.
The deal combines companies in two of the fastest-growing segments of media and marketing in recent years: digital and shopper marketing.
Search is distinguishing factor in driving engagement for consumers on shopping sites, and the new combined media offering will drive increased conversion and sell-through for the world’s largest retailers and brands
San Francisco, CA – Dec. 12, 2011 –– RichRelevance today announced it has acquired Searchandise Commerce, the pioneer in retail search media. The acquisition expands RichRelevance’s monetization and award-winning Shopping Media capabilities to enable new strategies for reaching consumers with relevant brand advertising, deep in the purchase funnel on premium retail sites. RichRelevance currently serves more than 1.4 billion page views each month across its retail publishers and with the acquisition of Searchandise will now serve 10 of the 25 largest retailers on the web, including Target, Sears and others.
“Retailers are the trusted resource consumers count on in navigating the path to purchase and in this capacity are driving large volumes of traffic on the web today,” said David Selinger, CEO of RichRelevance. “We are dedicated to helping our retail partners make the most of this shopping traffic while innovating new ways for brand advertisers to reach consumers where, and when, it matters most.”
The Rise of Shopping Media
As consumers continue to go online to research and shop – the purchase of CPG products online is at a level of approximately $15 billion and growing at a rate of 10% versus a year ago (ComScore, March 2011) – retail sites have emerged as the most trusted advisors for product purchases and product discovery. Consumers rely on retail sites 25% more than search engines for product research (Forrester, 2010), and advertisers are increasingly investing in new ways to ensure that their brand is present in the digital aisle where decisions are being made.
Introduced by RichRelevance in December 2010, Shopping Media is used by world-class brands like Colgate, 3M, P&G, AT&T, Verizon, Toyota and Cisco to engage shoppers on the world’s largest retail sites with custom content while they are researching and purchasing products. This personalized advertising is tied directly to shoppers’ goals and behavior, and includes rich media integrated directly into personalized product recommendations and other custom advertising units.
The Most Comprehensive Solution for Retailer and Brands
Now, through the acquisition of Searchandise, RichRelevance is extending its Shopping Media offering to address all three ways that consumers navigate retail sites: keyword search, menu browse and personalized content such as recommendations. Through RichRelevance, brands who are experts at optimizing search and display in their digital mix can now take advantage of the full online media continuum on retail sites, including display media through integration within personalized product recommendation modules to pay-for-performance targeted search capabilities and browsing results.
This new capability significantly accelerates RichRelevance’s ability to provide value to both retailers and brands:
- By combining forces with Searchandise’s advertising offering that targets search and browse results, RichRelevance will effectively offer retailers the ability to monetize the entire scope of shopping sessions while giving brands unprecedented access to these moments that matter.
- The introduction of Searchandise’s core technology to the RichRelevance personalization platform will dramatically enhance and optimize the performance of search on retailer’s sites.
- Retailers add profit to their bottom line through the introduction of new brand advertising that enhances, instead of detracts from, the shopping experience.
- Brands gain a new channel to reach millions of active consumers as they research and shop – driving sales and engagement. RichRelevance will now provide a true one-stop media platform for brands and agencies to maximize their ad spend and consumer-reach within major retail sites.
“The advertising landscape is undergoing huge transformation, and retail sites have emerged as the most powerful digital publishing opportunity where brands can influence customer purchase intent,” said John Federman, former CEO of Searchandise and now advisor to RichRelevance. “Online advertisers utilize both display and pay-for-performance campaigns to best impact prospects and customers. We are extremely excited to join David and the team at RichRelevance in uniquely offering the most robust suite of retail monetization products to respond to our advertiser’s growing appreciation of the power of shopping media.”
Additional Resources
- Additional information on monetization for retailers can be found here: https://richrelevance.com/retailers/monetization/.
- Additional resources for Shopping Media for advertisers can be found here: https://richrelevance.com/advertisers/.
You can also connect with RichRelevance on Facebook and Twitter for updates and news.
AboutRichRelevance
RichRelevance powers personalized shopping experiences for the world’s largest and most innovative retail brands, including Walmart, Sears, Target and others. Founded and led by the e-commerce expert who helped pioneer personalization at Amazon.com, RichRelevance helps retailers increase sales and customer engagement by recommending the most relevant products to consumers regardless of the channel they are shopping. RichRelevance has delivered more than $3 billion in attributable sales for its retail clients to date, and is accelerating these results with the introduction of a new form of digital advertising called shopping media which allows manufacturers to engage shoppers where it matters most – in the digital aisles on the largest retail sites in world. RichRelevance is headquartered in San Francisco, with offices in New York, Seattle, Boston and London.
RichRelevance’s VP for UK and Europe, Darren Hitchcock, is quoted in the “What the Experts Say” section of Internet Retailing’s supplement entitled “Digital Technologies, Analogue World.”
“Merchandising has an aspect of being about what the customer wants, but searchandising is often driven by metrics when it should be based on what is best or new or most appropriate for that customer.
Read Internet Retailing “Digital Technologies, Analogue Word” article