Fab has steadily been seeing more success with mobile this year as consumers turn to their mobile devices first to shop. In addition to the U.S. numbers, the company also saw 40 percent of European revenue coming from mobile on Christmas Day.

“We just smashed all previous mobile shopping days this Christmas,” said Jason Goldberg, founder/CEO of Fab, New York in a blog post.

“A whopping 56 percent of all of Fab’s revenue in the U.S. was via our mobile apps on Christmas in the U.S. — a new single day record,” he said.

Fab claims to have 7.5 million users.

Mobile tipping point
Fab’s single-day revenue reaching more than 50 percent points to the success that online retailers and brands have had with mobile.

In particular, sites like Fab have carved out a niche in the space with a focus on selling limited time-only products.

Besides Christmas Day, Fab saw success on other big holiday shopping days this year.

From Black Friday through Nov. 29, more than one-third of Fab’s sales were made via a mobile device.

Interestingly, Fab saw a shift in more purchases being made via an iPad during Cyber Week.

According to Fab, it was the first time when iOS sales were split evenly between iPhone and iPad users. Previously, the iPhone generated more sales.

Pointing to the growth that the company has seen over the past year, 15 percent of Fab’s sales came through a mobile device in Dec. 2011.

Mobile retail
Fab has focused its mobile initiatives around apps.

Last year, Fab rolled out apps available for iPhone, iPad and Android devices. The company decided to launch the app after seeing up to 18 percent of traffic coming from mobile devices (see story).

In October, Fab redesigned its iOS apps to focus more on social and navigation features.

As more online retailers continue to see success in mobile, the app user experience takes center stage for many flash sites. Compared to mobile sites, apps can help flash sites slim down demographics by looking at a user’s shopping history and can be used with push notifications to alert shoppers of new products.

“I would liken flash sales to the mobile shopping experience mastered by Steve Yankovich at eBay,” said Gary Schwartz, author of “The Impulse Economy” and “Fast Shopper, Slow Store.”

“He designed his small-screen experience for a 15-seconds check-out,” he said. “If the eBay bid takes more than 15 seconds, the customer is likely to abandon intent.”

“Flash sales are impulse, time-sensitive purchases. While the customer maybe screen-size agnostic, shopping on their livingroom couch on a tablet, the ultimate purchase is most likely to take place on-the-go on the small screen.
These sales work because they gamify the shopping experience. Retailers that want to succeed need to make sure that they design a seamless check out and count clicked to commerce. Any interruption of purchase on the small screen will lead to abandon shopping carts.”

Final Take
Lauren Johnson is associate reporter on Mobile Commerce Daily, New York