As more and more shoppers swipe, scroll and tap their way to gifts this festive season, it's important for marketers to understand the people and behaviours that are driving mobile shopping today, especially with the emergence of the mobile-first shopper – someone who expects to complete the majority (51% or higher) of their Christmas purchases on a mobile device.

To shed light on this evolving trend and find out just how marketers can win the festive season, as well as the year ahead, we went on a world tour with our in-house consumer insights team (Facebook IQ) to uncover the nuances surrounding the emergence of this savvy, mobile-first shopper.

While the number of people buying on mobile varies from country to country, shoppers from all over are turning to their favourite, always-with-them device to do most of their Christmas shopping – with people in Asia Pacific and the United States driving this phenomenon.¹ Because of this, nearly 40% of shoppers agree that, when it comes to Christmas shopping, their mobile device allows them to make a more informed purchase decision.²

And Instagram is playing an increased role in this in-the-moment experience.

With people turning to their feeds and stories everyday to research gift ideas and discover what to buy their friends (and even themselves), it's no surprise that Instagram's level of influence on Christmas shopping continues to evolve year after year.

From 2015 to 2016, the number of people who consider Instagram influential grew by an average of 12%,³ while 46% believe that Instagram is very influential on their Christmas shopping.⁴ And when compared to the average shopper, mobile-first shoppers are 2.35 times more likely to buy gifts or shop for themselves on Instagram and 2.29 times more likely to find deals or promotions on Instagram.³

As mobile's influence continues to grow, it's no surprise that more and more businesses on Instagram are seeing the impact (and opportunities) of the mobile-first shopper.

After finding past successes using Facebook's carousel ads to advertise its travel destinations to the globetrotters of the world, Virgin Holidays (@virginholidays) was looking for a new, more personal approach to raising awareness around its brand and the various destinations on offer to drive conversions both online and in store on Instagram.

With the help of Instagram Stories and its community of 250 million daily active users, Virgin Holidays partnered with creative agency AMV BBDO to launch a playful campaign back in March that brought the landscapes of NYC, Las Vegas and San Francisco to life. Placing the viewer at the centre of the action, the videos and images in the stories occurred in real time and full screen – making the viewer feel like they were really there, and nudging people into turning their dream holidays into a reality.

And not only were the stories entertaining to watch, but they were perfectly suited to highlight the tiny but essential details that help to sell travel destinations as well. The three-day campaign generated a 5-times increase in the video completion rate (compared to previous video campaigns), as well as dropping the cost per view by 10%.

Wanting to reach new customers with its Black Friday and Cyber Monday promotions, MeUndies (@meundies) tapped performance marketing agency MuteSix to create a user-acquisition campaign that retargeted people who had browsed its website and convince them to become customers of the feel-good brand.

Completely shattering expectations for the two-day holiday campaign, Instagram helped the brand earn a five-times return on advertising spend with 25% lower cost per purchase and 30% lower cost per add-to-cart action than other channels.

And in NYC, home of infamous bite-sized cupcakes, Baked by Melissa (@bakedbymelissa), the brand uses Instagram to connect and engage with its sweet-toothed community of connoisseurs through fun and colourful posts. It's here where the inspiration behind the brand's mouth-watering cupcakes are brought to life in a way that leaves Instagrammers salivating during the holidays with each swipe.

As mobile continues to accelerate the shopping journey for businesses all over the world, marketers must learn to appeal to this new, fast-growing shopping profile and adapt to meet the growing behaviour of the mobile-first shopper. Especially, when it comes to the festive season.

To learn more about mobile-first shoppers and how mobile is challenging marketers this festive season, visit Facebook IQ for the full article.