iPhone X owners spent 2x more than other mobile holiday shoppers

Brief:

Owners of the iPhone X, Apple's newest smartphone, spent nearly 2 times the average amount of other smartphone shoppers on Thanksgiving and Black Friday, according to a study by AppsFlyer made available to Mobile Marketer. The mobile analytics platform examined about $100 million of in-app purchases from 130 leading shopping apps in the U.S.
The average order value (AOV) from iPhone X devices was 30% higher than other iPhones and 70% higher than other top Samsungs. The AOV for iPhones as a group beat out the Google Pixel and Samsung Galaxy phones by 40% and 28%, respectively.
Meanwhile, mobile devices accounted for about 37% of total revenue on Black Friday, according to a report by Adobe Digital Insights, which measures transactions at some of the biggest U.S. web retailers. The total online shopping figure grew 17% from 2016 to a record $5.03 billion.

Insight:

IPhone X owners weren’t deterred by Apple’s $999 starting price for the smartphone, so it’s not much of a surprise that they spent more than most other mobile shoppers over Thanksgiving and Black Friday. AppsFlyer's data confirms an Adobe study about the varying shopping habits of smartphone owners. Adobe said the AOV for iOS devices grew 5.1% to $127 this year from 2016, compared with 1.5% growth to $112 for Android. IOS’s conversion rate of visits to purchases rose 10% from a year earlier, outpacing Android’s 8.1% growth rate, Adobe found.

The iPhone has traditionally had strong conversion rates compared to other mobile devices. This year, the iPhone X appears to be taking this to new levels, perhaps in part due to retailers upgrading their mobile strategies to fit the X's advanced AR capabilities. Many retailers like Ikea, Williams-Sonoma and Toys R Us are tapping mobile AR to enhance consumers' shopping experience, potentially making it easier for users to go from research to purchase.

Meanwhile, the biggest challenge facing all mobile marketers is converting mobile window shoppers into paying customers. Click-through and ad engagement rates jumped 154% and 111%, respectively, during the week before Thanksgiving, suggesting consumers were researching products for their holiday shopping in advance of the busy weekend, according to data from Rakuten Marketing.

On Cyber Monday, retailers brought in nearly $6.6 billion, according to Adobe. That sales figure is up 16.8% compared to last year and is projected to be the largest online shopping day in history. Those figures are roughly in line with projections and represent a more than $2.5 billion increase since 2014, according to Adobe.