e-Commerce will be a game changer for retail this holiday season.

Already, the results from Black Friday weekend and Cyber Monday show that:

  • Online shopping had a significant impact on Black Friday weekend sales. According to the National Retail Federation, more than one-quarter (27 percent) of holiday shoppers said they shopped online on Thanksgiving Day, and nearly half (47.5 percent) shopped online on Black Friday. Consequently, e-commerce gobbled up more of consumers’ holiday budgets. NRF found that the average person spent $172.42 online over Black Friday weekend –which amounts to about 40.7 percent of their total weekend spending, up from 37.8 percent last year.
  • Cyber Monday continues to broaden its appeal. Shop.org estimates 129.2 million Americans shopped on Cyber Monday last week –that’s a considerable increase from Cyber Monday in 2011 (122.8 million) and 2010 (only 106.9 million).
  • Mobile e-commerce is surging. Over the past three years, more and more Americans are turning to their mobile device to shop on Cyber Monday. This year, Shop.org found 20.4 million (15.8 percent) planned to use mobile device for Cyber Monday shopping. Back in 2009, that number was just 3.6 million (3.8 percent).

Image courtesy of stock.xchng

I doubt any marketer is “surprised” by these findings. After all, e-commerce has been simmering –poised to boil over –for the past few years. What’s striking this season, though, is the rapid and widespread convergence of mobile and online shopping. Analysts now predict mobile internet usage will surpass desktop usage as early as 2014, and it seems holiday shoppers are determined to underscore the point. Today’s consumers are equipped with smartphones and tablets, and they’re using them not just to make purchases, but also to comparison shop, read product reviews and even receive discounts and special promotions.

At Aprimo, we recently released results of a study demonstrating the powerful impact of mobile e-commerce on retail sales. The data from our online survey of 2,025 adults, ages 18 and older, shows that:

  • One in five of the consumers we polled currently engage in “showrooming” –which means they visit retail stores to try products, but then use a mobile device to find the best price online.
  • Among these showroomers, a full one-third (33 percent) said they ultimately used the information they found online to buy elsewhere.
  • Nearly everyone we polled (96 percent) said that in the future, they plan to showroom at least as much as they do now –if not even more.

Surely, retailers are going to have to adapt to new e-commerce trends like showrooming. If they don’t, they risk losing sales . . . and in the long-run, it’s hard for me to imagine they’ll survive. Today’s retail environment demands integrated marketing management that’s focused on improving the customer experience via both off- and online channels. (See tips to help you drive revenue and customer satisfaction here.)

It’s also worth noting that as more and more consumers consult mobile devices when they shop, we’re going to see the mobile advertising market explode. Retailers will see a positive impact from “smarter” marketing that uses targeted messaging based on time, location and buying behaviors, while at the same time, consumers will come to expect this level of engagement and personalization. Buoyed by these layers of positive reinforcement, mobile marketing has nowhere to go but up –way up.

As always, the holiday season provides a valuable glimpse into what lies ahead for retail. This year, it’s clear that mobile e-commerce is positioned to be a powerful, transformative part of the marketing mix for 2013.