Santa's Arrival Upstaged by Coming of Holiday Mobile Commerce

I like to think that I get in the holiday spirit as much as anyone, but when I look back at 2010, more than Santa’s arrival, I will remember this as the year that mobile for holiday shopping dramatically came on the scene. Beyond anecdotal evidence, many reports make the case for mobile’s unprecedented success: PayPal saw an approximately 310 percent increase in mobile shopping on Black Friday. http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20101127005008/en/PayPal-Black-Friday-Data-Reveals-Increase-Online. Overall, the company reported approximately a 27 percent increase in total payment volume on Black Friday 2010, compared to the previous year. Zong, which powers mobile payments for virtual goods, says sales were up 117% year-over-year on Cyber Monday. http://www.businessinsider.com/zong-which-powers-mobile-payments-for-virtual-goods-says-sales-were-up-117-year-over-year-on-cyber-monday-thats-2010-11#ixzz16nlJbLOb Scanbuy claims it saw about 30 times more scans last weekend than it did a year ago. http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/research/8281.html While reaching records, 2010 mobile activity will pale in comparison to next year’s and into the future. While we don’t have many individual success stories or failures, it’s safe to say that marketers who planned, integrated, provided relevance and value are the big winners. Those who didn’t will learn from their mistakes – or won’t be around next year to repeat them. As for my purchases, I made one on Black Friday – a Virgin Mobile Mifi personal hotspot device that I bought at a brick-and-mortar Radio Shack after checking prices and availability on my iPhone. Please see the rest of my weekly MSearchGroove post here http://bit.ly/eEQOR2