• by Jess Nelson , December 1, 2015

Black Friday may have been a bust this year for brick-and-mortar stores, but mobile shopping remains a bright beacon for the holidays and email marketers.

Mobile sales accounted for 26% of the record-breaking $3.07 billion spent on Cyber Monday this year, according to Adobe. The company’s estimate is based on aggregated and anonymous data from 80% of online orders from the top 100 U.S. retailers.

Thirty-seven percent of the $1.7 billion in Thanksgiving sales also came from a mobile device -- a 14% increase from 2014. Thanksgiving online sales jumped a quarter this year, marking it as the fastest-growing online shopping day.

Mobile also accounted for 34% of Black Friday sales and drove 53% of in-store shopping visits on Friday. Overall, Black Friday online shopping increased 14% compared to 2014.

IBM reports that mobile sales on Black Friday were even higher, and grew 23.8% to account for 40% of online sales.

As online holiday shopping continues to steadily increase year-over-year, email marketers should note that mobile isn’t only critical for the holidays.

Mobile revenue increased 9.9% year-over-year in Q3, according to a benchmark report released today by Yes Lifecycle Marketing. The report says that more consumers are marking purchases on their smartphones more than ever before, and that revenue generated by iPhones increased 46% year-over-year.

Considering the rise of mobile shopping, and the fact that the majority of email reads are now on a mobile device, email marketers would be wise to ensure that their campaigns are A/B tested, and optimized to be read by a consumer on a smartphone.