The term "Cyber Monday" hasn't been around for too long but it may already be ousted by another - Mobile Monday - after consumers turned to their mobile devices to research and purchase gifts.

Coined just 6 years ago, the term "Cyber Monday" describes the Monday after Thanksgiving on which day online shopping activity rises significantly.

According to comScore, the $1.25 billion spent this year makes it the heaviest online commerce day ever and represents a 22% rise from last year's Cyber Monday which itself generated a record $1.03 billion in online purchases.

However, Cyber Monday could end up being renamed Mobile Monday as figures show shopping using a mobile device has seen a huge rise in popularity.

According to data released by eBay consumers spent two and a half times more this year via the site's mobile channel than they did on Cyber Monday last year

Likewise IBM reported a 10.8% rise in mobile visitors to ecommerce websites, up from 3.9% in 2010, with a corresponding rise in sales to 6.6% from last year's 2.3%.

PayPal Mobile has also reported a massive 552% YoY increase in mobile payments worldwide for Cyber Monday along with a 397% increase in mobile customers.

"There is a convenience factor, whether it be iPhone, iPad or Android," said John Squire, chief strategy officer at Coremetrics. "And retailers have really invested in their sites to give mobile users a more compelling experience."

Source: http://www.bizreport.com/2011/11/could-cyber-monday-become-mobile-monday.html

Sears customers used their mobile devices to shop and make purchases during the Thanksgiving holiday weekend and on Cyber Monday, delivering double digits gains for the retailer.

Mobile has been a major focus for Sears over the past year, with the retailer intent on building out its mobile offerings to provide a full set of features. Additions to Sears’ mobile strategy this year include giving customers more mobile payment options and adding QR codes to out-of-home ads so on-the-go consumers can easily purchase gift items. 

Sears also tweaked its mobile site a couple of months ago to improve performance, a move that paid off during the Thanksgiving weekend, when the retailer’s mobile site was one of the leaders in terms of customer satisfaction, according to Compuware Gomez.

Mobile Commerce Daily spoke with Michael Murray, chief marketing officer of online for Sears Holdings, Chicago, on the Monday back to work after the holiday weekend to discuss mobile’s strong performance and how the retailer is positioning itself to take advantage of the growth in mobile.

Source: Mobilecommercedaily

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http://www.mobilecommercedaily.com/2011/11/29/sears%E2%80%99-integrated-mobile-experience-helps-deliver-strong-thanksgiving-results

To lure customers and boost sales, stores are deploying cool smartphone apps. Will consumers buy into the latest shopping fad?

By Caitlin Keating, reporter

FORTUNE -- Scott Thompson, president and CEO of eBay's PayPal unit (EBAY), says that he is one of those people who drives to Starbucks, sees the long line, and keeps on driving. "I'm on the go. I wish I could have stopped, but I don't have time," Thompson quips over a glass of wine. "No one does."

Not surprisingly, Thompson and his competitors in the fast-growing mobile payments business have a solution for impatient consumers and harried retailers alike: software that lets consumers pre-order and pre-pay for their coffee (or sweaters, or TVs) with a few taps on their mobile phones.

"We all just don't have time to shop," says Thompson, who hosted a recent soiree in New York to unveil PayPal Wallet, smartphone software coming next year that promises to replace both the consumer's wallet (all your credit card information is stored in it) and the retailer's cash register.

But retailers aren't waiting for PayPal Wallet. Many are already going mobile, either offering mobile apps to supplement e-commerce sites, or finding new ways to let potential shoppers get information in stores using their mobile phones.

Sears, for example, has tricked out O'Hare Airport and other high-traffic areas with so-called shopping walls that feature its top-selling products. See something you like? Whip out a camera-enabled phone, scan the Quick Response (QR) code, and you'll be sent to an e-commerce site that lets you purchase the item. By the time you board your plane, the item is already in the process of being shipped.

Tom Aiello, a division vice president at Sears's parent company, Sears Holdings (SHLD), said in regards to this holiday season, "Customers are going to spend more, but shop less. We have seen people use mobile phones when electricity was out to order generators in an ice storm, or an air conditioner during a heat wave in New York City. We've also seen surprising items like lawn tractors purchased on mobile phones and tablets."

The National Retail Federation estimates more than a third of retailers say they have significantly invested in QR codes in offline advertising, such as magazines and billboards. About half of online retailers say they have significantly invested in mobile-optimized websites, and 20% have invested in tablet device apps.

Greg Ahearn, chief marketing officer of Toys "R" Us, has started accepting mobile payments in some of its stores via Google Wallet (GOOG), the search giant's mobile commerce platform. Consumers who have phones enabled with special wireless technology can "bump" their gadgets against compatible cash registers at some 200 of the toy retailer's 870 worldwide locations and complete the sale that way. "It's all about convenience," Ahearn says. "The easier you make it for someone to find the exact toy you're looking for and get it to them the way they want it is the way retail is headed."

But sometimes people can't find that exact toy, or book, or necklace. That's where gift cards come in, and no surprise, gift certificates have gone mobile, too. David Stone, co-founder and CEO of digital gift card purveyor CashStar estimates that Americans purchase some $100 billion in these cash substitutes every year. Cohen's company is trying to shift the business from plastic cards to digital chits. "This is the post-plastic card era, because we are living on our iPhones, iPads, and computers."

Stone's dream scenario: "You're walking up to your friend's kid's birthday party, and you see people bringing gifts, and you think: 'Oh my god, I forgot to get a gift.' So you take out your smartphone and instantly buy the gift, walk into the house, and you say, 'Susan or Debby, I just sent you a gift! Check your phone, and there it is.'"

Convenient, yes, but we're not sure if Miss Manners would approve.

A shorter version of this article appeared in the December 12, 2011 issue of Fortune.