Eye on M-Commerce: Tire Retailer on a Roll; Other Merchant Types Experience Increases

Holiday gifts and everyday products may garner much of the attention when it comes to mobile-commerce transactions, but a tire retailer is finding success with the technology, too.

SimpleTire, a Trevose, Pa.-based online seller, found that consumers were in the mood to buy tires online on Cyber Monday. SimpleTire says its sales that day via smart phones increased 400% year-over-year. During one midday hour Monday, SimpleTire recorded more than $250,000 in revenue, Kevin Burke, SimpleTire chief marketing officer, said in a statement.

The average order value was $450, compared with $439 for desktop-based SimpleTire purchases. The company said m-commerce shoppers spanned the generations, too. Those 45 years old and more were the majority, at 40%. Those between 25 and 34 years old made up 26%, followed by the 35-to-44 age group, 25%.

Consumers also made more traditional holiday purchases using their mobile devices. Criteo S.A., a digital-marketing agency that studied purchase transactions for its U.S. retail clients, said mobile sales accounted for 40.6% of online commerce in the period from Thanksgiving to Cyber Monday, reflecting an ongoing consumer shift to “purchase-on-demand habits,” the company said.

Paris-based Criteo said nearly all merchant categories had more sales from mobile devices compared to a baseline period from Nov. 6 to Nov. 19. Mass merchants’ m-commerce sales were up 7.4%; toys and gadgets, 5.3%; flowers and gifts, 3.5%; home improvement and home goods, 3.4%; and fashion and luxury, 0.7%. Only the health-and-beauty category declined, by 1.1%.