John Lewis predicts that 2013 will be the first UK ‘mobile
Christmas’ with traffic from mobile phones and tablets overtaking that from
desktops for the first time on Christmas Day itself. Mobile made up almost 50
per cent of all traffic to johnlewis.com on 25th December 2012 and the
retailer expects that mobile will storm past desktop traffic at 5pm on
Christmas Day this year. The prediction coincides with the launch of John
Lewis’ new transactional iPad app.
Mark Lewis, online director, John Lewis said: “Mobile is set
to be the shining star of Christmas 2013. Shopping is becoming much more of a
social experience with people browsing, purchasing and sharing ideas with each
other using their mobile phones and tablets. We expect this to increase dramatically
during the festive period as customers shop on the go, and we anticipate that
Christmas Day will be the tipping point for mobile.”
New stats from John Lewis reveal how we’re becoming a nation
of mobile shoppers:
- The peak hour for mobile
traffic on Christmas Day 2012 was 9pm - The busiest day on mobile last
year was 26th December, with over 920,000 visits. Over 1 million
visits are estimated for this Boxing Day which will be a new record for mobile. - Mobile now accounts for over 40
per cent of traffic to johnlewis.com and traffic is up over 115 per cent year
on year. - The busiest time for mobile
traffic is 10pm. - Fashion, in particular, has
seen a significant increase in customers shopping via their mobiles, with 78
per cent of total sales in the category now completed on a mobile device
Mark Lewis continued: Although
customers are more likely to shop for lower value items on mobile devices, there
is a significant proportion of customers purchasing big ticket items. In fact
the most expensive item we’ve sold on the mobile site was a £7000 television.”
This year, new technology from
John Lewis will include a transactional app for the iPad which will bring rich
content from the retailer’s magazine and catalogues to the shopping
environment. John Lewis’ iPhone app relaunched this Autumn and allows customers
to check its Never Knowingly Undersold commitment and read ratings and reviews.
John Lewis also introduced WiFi in all of its stores to make it easier for
customers to browse the web.
Mark Lewis said: We know that our
customers shop using many channels and over the last 12 months we have seen a
significant rise in sales via mobile devices. Our aim is to create a seamless
shopping experience for customers, whether that is in-store, online or mobile
and our iPad app fits with our leading omnichannel strategy.”
The John Lewis Partnership operates 39 John Lewis shops across the UK
(30 department stores and 9 John Lewis at home), johnlewis.com, 291 Waitrose
shops, waitrose.com and business to business contracts in the UK and abroad. e
business has annual gross sales of over £9.5bn. It is the UK’s largest example
of worker co-ownership where all 84,700 staff are Partners in the business.
John Lewis typically stocks more than 350,000 separate lines in its
department stores. e website stocks over 200,000 products focused on the best
of fashion, beauty, home and giftware and electrical items including online
exclusives. johnlewis.com is consistently ranked one of the top online shopping
destinations in the UK (www.johnlewis.com). John Lewis Insurance offers a range
of comprehensive insurance products – home, car, wedding and event, travel and
pet insurance and life cover – delivering the usual values of expertise, trust
and customer service expected from the John Lewis brand.
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