In a blog post last week Google declared 2016 as the year of the supershopper. They define a supershopper as someone who is shopping primarily on their mobile device, looking for deals on the best products and constantly searching Google to so all of this.
“With the ability to instantly discover, research, and purchase, shoppers around the world are more informed and more efficient than ever before – they’ve transformed into supershoppers seemingly overnight.” said Julie Krueger, Retail Managing Director at Google. “We all have that friend – the one who somehow knows the latest brands, the season’s must-have products, and where to find the best deals at the snap of a finger.”
Google says that in 2015 over 50% of holiday shoppers were open to buying from new retailers and that 76% of mobile shoppers have switch their intended brand or retailer after searching Google.
“It used to be that shoppers would thumb through catalogues or stare longingly at the holiday window displays, but mobile is now the super shopper’s go-to source for inspiration,” says Krueger. “Over 64% of smartphone shoppers turn to mobile search for ideas about what to buy before heading into store. And 1 in 4 mobile video viewers in the U.S. have visited YouTube for help with a purchase decision while they were at a store or visiting a store’s website.”
They also report that people more than ever before are search for phrases like “best gift” indicating that they are using search to find quality, not just deals. Google also believes that shoppers are looking for unique gifts too, reporting that searches related to “cool gifts” grew 80%.
Mobile Search: A Door to the Store
Searches on mobile are still really about driving business to the brick and mortar store, rather than just pure online shopping. “Although more and more people are willing to buy on mobile, we know that mobile is still used predominantly as a door to the store,” said Krueger. “In fact, 76% of people who search for something nearby on their smartphone visit a related business within a day, and 28% of those searches result in a purchase.”
They say that once in the store, shoppers use their mobile device to find deals and information about the products they are interested in.
From a retailers perspective, expect online conversion rates to increase across devices as the holidays get to full stride. Google says that last year on mobile, sales were up 30% on Black Friday and 50% on Cyber Monday.