It's a well known fact that the holiday season drives more commerce than any other period in the year. 2021 was no exception as consumers kicked off an early holiday buying season amid supply chain concerns, pent up demand, and pandemic driven inflation. 

Covid-19 has indelibly changed the way we shop, with more consumers choosing mobile commerce for convenience, safety, and seamless user experiences.

According to a recent report by eMarketer, U.S. Mobile commerce sales increased 41.4% in 2020 and is forecasted to grow another 15.2% in 2021 with no signs of slowing down in years to come. Button has been at the forefront of mobile commerce since our inception - leading IR500 retailers are leveraging our PostTap product suite to drive higher revenue across all paid marketing channels, with even more impactful results this holiday season. 

As expected, the period from Black Friday to Cyber Monday showed a steep acceleration in growth  of revenue in comparison to the rest of the year - with more of these dollars shifting to mobile. Looking at aggregate data across Button's marketplace of IR500 companies from Thanksgiving day through Cyber Monday, we saw a 200% increase in overall revenue, 76% increase in conversion rates, and 127% increase in total orders in comparison to baseline non-holiday averages.  

To better understand this shift to app, we analyzed the breakdown of 2021 App vs. Web purchases by vertical. Unsurprisingly, mobile-first verticals such as on-demand (food delivery, ride-share) and grocery continue to have the highest rates of app penetration. Travel and retail also are seeing growth in mobile app orders over web.

Button's PostTap App technology dynamically optimizes where mobile links route to, bringing each consumer to the most performant point of conversion - whether that's in app or on mobile web. (To read more about how PostTap app works behind the scenes, check out this post). The impact of PostTap App is higher install to purchase conversion rates, revenue per click, and repeat purchases rates — ultimately leading to increased sales and a higher Customer Lifetime Value. Across Button's PostTap App and Tap partnerships we see an average of 106% increase in conversion rates for users purchasing in app over web. 

In addition to looking at overall conversion rates, we also analyzed when consumers were most likely to purchase over the holiday weekend, as knowing the optimal time to engage with consumers is critical to maximizing ROAS. Similar to previous years, we saw that Black Friday shoppers tended to purchase early in the day while those who shopped on Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday converted in the evening. Customers leveraging our PostTap SMS solution were able to schedule text messages to consumers at the most opportune moments over the holiday weekend to maximize yield. 

Lastly, we analyzed top 2021 products and found that Covid-19 was not far from consumers' minds. Five of the top products purchased between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday were toilet paper, paper towels, batteries, Oculus VR, and Covid tests.

We're excited to continue to drive value for our partners over the last remaining weeks in the holiday season. Button wishes a safe and happy holidays to all!