Just call them the Fab Five.
eBay Inc.’s business units saw increases in mobile shopping in the “Cyber Five” period – the five shopping days beginning with Thanksgiving 2013 – when compared to the same period a year ago. Thanks to the increased use of smartphones and tablets, coupled with eBay’s technology leadership and focus on enabling merchants of all sizes, eBay Inc.’s mobile enabled commerce volume (ECV) saw an increase of 96% year-over-year, for the “Cyber Five” period 2013.
This holiday season in particular, eBay Inc.’s priority across its business units has been focusing on the customer and using our technology to make shopping smarter and simpler for both buyers and sellers. eBay, PayPal and eBay Enterprise are also helping retailers use mobile technology to drive sales and engagement over a shorter than usual holiday season, as well as offering unique offline experiences like digital storefronts (video below) and free local gift delivery via eBay Now through Christmas Eve.
Over the five days, the number of mobile shoppers on eBay more than doubled from the year prior. When looking specifically at activity on Sunday, Dec. 1, 2013, eBay saw the busiest mobile shopping time was outside of traditional store hours, with activity peaking at 9 p.m. ET. The most shopped categories on mobile were Fashion, followed by Electronics and Home & Garden. eBay featured several hot deals throughout the 2013 “Cyber Five” period, which included 1,500 iPad Minis (16GB Wifi) selling out in a mere 9 minutes (167 sold per minute) on Thanksgiving 2013 and 2,000 Wii U 32GB Bundles (Super Mario U & Super Luigi U included) selling out in 21 minutes (95 sold per minute) on Sunday following Thanksgiving 2013.
While the Sunday following Thanksgiving 2013 may have been the busiest mobile shopping day during the 2013 “Cyber Five” period, eBay believes that the busiest day of the year is yet to come. Last year, eBay’s busiest mobile shopping day was the third Sunday in December (December 16, 2012). This year, eBay anticipates similar results with its busiest mobile shopping day to fall on Sunday, December 15, possibly the result of a changing retail calendar sparked by the increasing use of mobile to shop anytime, anywhere.
On Thanksgiving 2013, PayPal saw a 91% increase in consumers shopping through PayPal mobile around the world compared to Thanksgiving 2012, with this year’s Thanksgiving mobile TPV increasing by 114.7% compared to Thanksgiving 2012. PayPal also saw an increase in shopping with mobile devices on Black Friday 2013 (compared to Black Friday 2012), with 99.2% more consumers shopping through PayPal on their mobile device on Black Friday 2013, but shopping didn’t stop there. In fact Cyber Monday, December 2, was the biggest day in mobile payment volume in the history of PayPal to date.
Meanwhile, on Thanksgiving Day 2013 eBay Enterprise saw the number of consumers accessing our platform or platforms of our partners from mobile devices (including mobile phones, tablets, e-readers, media players and game consoles) increase nearly 130% and mobile orders increase nearly 127% compared to Thanksgiving Day 2012. On Cyber Monday 2013, eBay Enterprise saw the number of consumers accessing our platform or platforms of our partners from a mobile device (such as tablets, mobile phones, e-readers, media players and game consoles) increase 115.7% and mobile orders increased 88% compared to Cyber Monday 2012.*
In total, eBay Inc. expects to generate $20 billion in mobile commerce volume and $20 billion in payments volume in 2013.
As we see the mobile shopping landscape changing, we believe the only constant this holiday season is that modern consumers are looking for choice and convenience above all else and their expectations for shopping anytime, anywhere are rising. For a look at how we’re meeting that demand, take a look at this video on Digital Storefronts.