Smartphones Account For 48% Of Retail Site Visits Before Holiday Weekend

Consumers have increasingly turned to their smartphones for holiday shopping. Smartphones alone account for 48.3% of visits to retail sites, compared with desktop at 43.5% and tablets at 8.2%, according to Adobe Analytics data released Wednesday.

Pre-holiday numbers account for 22% year-over-year growth (YoY) for mobile, and 28% of total sales.

Adobe expects consumers to bypass search engines with direct site traffic as the top driver for conversions. Direct site traffic ranks highest for driving sales: 27.4% share of sale, up 0.2% YoY.

Paid search follows with 24%, up 6.3%; organic search fell to 6% to 21.1% YoY.

Adobe estimates that email rose by 3% to 20% of media.

For the shopping days ahead, Adobe Analytics forecasts $3.3 billion in online sales on Thanksgiving, up 16.5% YoY; and $5.9 billion on Black Friday, up 17.2% YoY.

Adobe expects Cyber Monday to be the largest and fastest-growing day at $7.8 billion, 17.6% YoY.

Conversion rates have climbed across all devices, too. Smartphones experienced a 7.7% rise to 2% YoY, desktops rose 2.9% to 4.3% YoY, and tablets are up 5.5% to 4.2% YoY.

Retailers with $1 billion or more in annual revenue saw shoppers 10% more likely to make a purchase on a desktop. Smartphone conversion rates are the same across retailers of all sizes.

Shoppers will see an average savings of 15.4% for computers, 4.9% for televisions and 12% for toys just prior to Thanksgiving Day.

Retailers are expected to give consumers the most discounts on Black Friday, with computers predicted to drop 16%, tablets by 33%, and televisions by 22%.