Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Holiday Season mobile stats & trends
Every year, Adobe Analytics analyses trillions of web visits on over 4,500 retail and eCommerce sites to provide us with the most comprehensive holiday season insights.
Based on what we see, we are very excited about the future of SMS marketing. Here’s why.
People prefer their smartphones for web browsing
Year on year, the share of web traffic from smartphones continue to increase, and it now makes up well over half. Mobile web experiences are more optimised, and access to cheaper mobile data enables more people to come online.
Share of Total Web Traffic
| Smartphone | Desktop | Tablet | |
| 2015 | 33% | 55% | 12% |
| 2016 | 39% | 50% | 11% |
| 2017 | 46% | 44% | 10% |
| 2018 | 51% | 40% | 9% |
| 2019 | 57% | 38% | 5% |
Sources: Adobe CMO, Adobe Digital Insights, Adobe Newsroom
SMS Marketing: Send SMS campaigns to get your business in front of your customers’ eyes and to drive traffic to your website and increase conversion.
Desktop remains king for purchases
That said, shoppers still prefer their desktop computers to complete their purchases.
We predict that people use their smartphones for research and to make shopping lists on-the-go. But as mobile experiences get better and people become more comfortable, smartphone purchase share should continue to increase as it has over the past few years.
Share of Total Purchases
| Smartphone | Desktop | Tablet | |
| 2016 | 21% | 69% | 10% |
| 2017 | 26% | 61% | 13% |
| 2018 | 30% | 60% | 10% |
| 2019 | 35% | 60% | 5% |
Sources: Adobe CMO, Adobe Digital Insights, Adobe Newsroom
Smartphones taking a bigger and bigger share of revenue
We haven’t talked about tablets yet. As you probably noticed on each table so far, their share of traffic, purchases, and now revenue continues to decline. They never had a big piece of the pie to begin with.
Share of Total Revenue
| Smartphone | Desktop | Tablet | |
| 2017 | 23% | 67% | 10% |
| 2018 | 31% | 60% | 9% |
| 2019 | 35% | 60% | 5% |
Sources: Adobe CMO, Adobe Digital Insights, Adobe Newsroom
A quick glance of Black Friday and Cyber Monday
Black Friday and Cyber Monday are two of the highest revenue-generating days of the year. Only Alibaba’s Singles Day has more.
Though it fluctuates every year, mobile sales are on the uptrend. The data does include tablets, but we can tell from the previous tables that they’re on the decline, which suggests that smartphones play a bigger and bigger role each year and every year.
Black Friday Historical Data
| Black Friday History | ||
| Year | Total Sales | Total Mobile Sales |
| 2014 | 2.40 Billion | 600 Million (25% sales share) |
| 2015 | 2.74 Billion | 904 Million (28% sales share) |
| 2016 | 3.34 Billion | 1.2 Billion (36% sales share) |
| 2017 | 5.03 Billion | 1.9 Billion (38% sales share) |
| 2018 | 6.22 Billion | 2.1 Billion (33% sales share) |
| 2019 | 7.4 Billion | 2.9 Billion (39% sales share) |
Sources: Adobe CMO, Adobe Digital Insights, Adobe Newsroom
Cyber Monday Historical Data
| Cyber Monday History | ||
| Year | Total Sales | Total Mobile Sales |
| 2014 | 2.65 Billion | 477 Million (18% sales share) |
| 2015 | 2.98 Billion | 834 Million (28% sales share) |
| 2016 | 3.39 Billion | 1.2 Billion (35% sales share) |
| 2017 | 6.59 Billion | 2.18 Billion (33% sales share) |
| 2018 | 7.9 Billion | 2.8 Billion (35% sales share) |
| 2019 | 9.4 Billion | 3 Billion (33% sales share) - Smartphones only |
Sources: Adobe CMO, Adobe Digital Insights, Adobe Newsroom
Final Thoughts
Smartphone traffic, revenue, and sales share continue to grow. Although Adobe doesn’t provide data like this outside of the holiday season, it’s not hard-pressed to assume that the stats are very similar throughout the rest of the year. While shoppers have their eyes glued to their phones, capture their attention with an SMS marketing campaign.
If you’re not already a Burst SMS customer, give our online SMS service a try with our 14-day trial. No obligations and no credit card required.
![2019-20 State of SMS Report [Free Download]](/uploads/State-of-SMS_2019_1200x600.jpg)
