Gen Z Loves the Convenience of Mobile Shopping

By Arriana McLymore

NEW YORK, Nov 28 (Reuters) - U.S. holiday shoppers have big plans to use small screens for a head start this year on Thanksgiving Day, and retailers have spent weeks priming them, touting pre-Black Friday online discounts for everything from TVs and toys to Bluetooth speakers.

Major retailers including Walmart and Target close their brick-and-mortar stores on Thanksgiving Day, reopening their doors on Black Friday. But tech-savvy 18- to 24-year-olds who may be with their families for Thanksgiving are likely to make mobile purchases from their sofas.

"What we've always seen is this gap between shoppers looking and browsing from their phones, but then they go back to their computers and buy," said Caila Schwartz, director of consumer insights at Salesforce. That gap is shrinking as retailers streamline payment methods including Google Pay and Apple Pay, store billing and shipping information for loyalty members and tailor merchandise suggestions to users.

For the months of November and December, mobile spending is set to hit a record $128.1 billion, up 12.8% from last year, according to Adobe Analytics.

Gen-Z consumers, who are comfortable shopping and comparing prices on their mobile phones, are driving the shift toward mobile spending. Minkyung Kim noted that they are likely to influence their families over Thanksgiving.

"Nine times out of 10" she is shopping on Target or Nordstrom's retail apps from her phone or iPad," said Thalia LeBlanc. She plans to spend $2000 on gifts for her family throughout the holiday season.

The ease of shopping from mobile apps is enticing shoppers like LeBlanc to spend more money at favorite retailers such as Amazon's app due in part to exclusive deals.

"The average basket is higher on the app," said Nur Ghossien Martin at Roxy's parent company Boardriders. Roxy's average basket size on its app is higher compared to its mobile website.

Amazon expanded its generative AI chatbot Rufus ahead of holidays with Amazon Haul accessible only through its e-commerce app indicating room for growth in encouraging phone-based shopping habits.

"Habitual purchases on Amazon are likely," stated Melissa Minkow about encouraging more shopping via Amazon’s mobile app while noting an increase in high-ticket item buyers transacting via phones due improved product descriptions by retailers like Mango boosting capacity before holidays."