Reuters: Mobile Payments Systems Could Get a Real Pre-Christmas Workout

Well, now that Halloween is officially behind us, it’s time to get out the Christmas decorations. Yes, I know, some stores already have. Still, this is the time of year when most think of holiday shopping, and Reuters is no exception. In fact, it just brought out a report that says the stores will be seeing a green Christmas this year, particularly for online stores, where online shopping could clear $124.1 billion this year.

If that sounds like a big number, it is, both in isolation and in aggregate. It’s actually a 14.8 percent increase over last year, and given that brick-and-mortar shops are only looking for a 2.7 percent jump, it’s a point that says a lot about the culture as well.

Driving this is a wide range of factors, from an increased total number of jobs in the US market, better wages, decreased inflation, and a knock-on effect of improved net worth. There’s one other ace in the hole that probably wasn’t necessary, but will help anyway. Thanks to the calendar this year, there will actually be one more day of shopping between Cyber Monday and Christmas. Such an anomaly may yield up to $284 million in extra sales by itself.

Basically, the projections were reached when Adobe Analytics ran transaction data for 80 out of the top 100 US retailers, as well as consumer visits to US retail websites. It not only reached the projections, but it also found some other noteworthy points. Those considering new sporting goods may want to hold off until Thanksgiving, when prices are up to 13 percent lower than the 10-month average. Television buyers, hold out until Black Friday proper, as prices are up to 22 percent reduced.

While there’s a certain amount of “rising-tide-lifts-all-boats” involved here, it’s clear that a lot of shoppers are taking their business online. That’s actually in line with a lot of what we’ve seen previously, going back to when eBay and bliss spa got together to bring a touch of pampering to Black Friday shopping.

Online shopping, and mobile payments, are increasingly part of the package for shoppers all over. It may not be a surprising development, but it’s one we’re likely to see continue to crop up for the foreseeable future.