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Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Family and the Fact that Only 10% of Us Can Give Up Our Smartphones this Holidays

Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Family and the Fact that Only 10% of Us Can Give Up Our Smartphones this Holidays Image Credit: Verizon Wireless

Mobile Operators' foray into digital services is often said to be part of Operators' strategy to offset revenues lost to OTT service providers and revenues eroded by the increasing commoditization of mobile services despite Operators rolling out superior connectivity including the 4G and 4G LTE. What seems to be a bigger driver for Operators' steady expansion in the Digital Services sphere are the phenomenal changes in the market for Digital Services - the increase in the demand for 'digitalization' and preference for the 'virtual' experience compared to the 'real' experience.

Mobile commerce shows how the digital cart has become more popular then the actual shopping trolley, as users go online to their favourite shopping sites and start placing orders and paying for their purchases using their digital accounts provided via e-banking services and third party payment services providers such as PayPal. Other major segments within the digital services which Operators are paying much attention to are streaming video and streaming audio services. The preference to go to the internet to browse, purchase and download their favourite movie lists and song titles have made the likes of Spotify and Netflix major household names for today's consumers. The younger generation, in particular, are showing such affinity to both mobile devices and digitalized services, that Operators who are able to tap into the Digital Services market by offering content, connection and devices became the 'go-to' providers for a wide range of services from banking to entertainment to shopping.

Verizon, one the leading service provider in the US, published some interesting results from a survey conducted this month in partnership with KRC Research. The survey which was participated by 1000 Americans confirmed the growing demand for digitalized services. The survey was based on the online shopping and holiday trends during the popular American holidays - Black Friday and Cyber Monday. The long weekend and spirit of Thanksgiving bundled with the excitement of Christmas shopping has for the last decade created major shopping frenzies not only in America but also across other countries including those in Europe and Latin America. The survey looked at how the frenzy which has since spread to online shopping sites has changed the shopping habits of consumers, particularly, Americans. 

The survey found that 59% of respondents have used a smartphone to make Black Friday shopping easier with 71% of this group continuing to do the same for Cyber Mondays. The survey showed that there is a high demand for Black Friday apps that would make shopping easier - 80% say knowing where to get the best Black Friday deals would make their shopping experience easier, 78% say that they would benefit from knowing which stores have the shortest lines and another 79% say they would like to know how many of the hottest deals are left at each store. 

Apart from the shopping apps, a third of the millenials who took part in the survey said they download holiday-specific apps. The apps enable users to access various information which then helps them to spend their holidays with more activities. For example, 55% of respondents say that they are likely to download a video on their smartphones for a recipe or a decorating tip with the share of those doing so by age group being 73% for millenials, 61% for women and 71% for parents. 

In addition, the survey showed that 81% of smartphone users will wish someone a 'happy holidays' over text message with 35% doing so via video chat and women(85%) being more likely to send 'happy holidays' text messages compared to men (75%). As expected,  millennials are significantly more likely to wish someone happy holidays over text (92%) and video chat (47%) compared to other age groups. The most interesting revelation from the survey is perharps the fact that ONLY 10% said they are willing to part with their phones while 21% said they can do without gifts. And most importantly, when asked about their family, only 4% of Americans are willing to give up seeing the family during the holidays which places the smartphone quite close to things we can't live without! 

Author

Executive Editor and Telecoms Strategist at The Fast Mode | 5G | IoT/M2M | Telecom Strategy | Mobile Service Innovations 

Tara Neal heads the strategy & editorial unit at The Fast Mode, focusing on latest technologies such as gigabit broadband, 5G, cloud-native networking, edge computing, virtualization, software-defined networking and network automation as well as broader telco segments such as IoT/M2M, CX, OTT services and network security. Tara holds a First Class Honours in BSc Accounting and Finance from The London School of Economics, UK and is a CFA charterholder from the CFA Institute, United States. Tara has over 22 years of experience in technology and business strategy, and has earlier served as project director for technology and economic development projects in various management consulting firms.

Follow Tara Neal on Twitter @taraneal11, LinkedIn @taraneal11, Facebook or email her at tara.neal@thefastmode.com.

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