Macy's says it will hit $1 billion in mobile sales by the end of the year as smartphone shopping explodes

Macy's

Macy's says it is seeing explosive mobile sales growth.

• Macy's CEO said on Friday that the company is on track to reach its target of $1 billion in mobile sales by year-end.
• Smartphone shopping has been a dominant trend in Thanksgiving and Black Friday sales.
• This Thanksgiving, smartphones accounted for 36.7% of all sales, up from 29.1% in 2017.

Mobile shopping has been the dominant trend of Thanksgiving and Black Friday so far, and it's feeding nicely into Macy's growth strategy.

In an interview with Yahoo Finance's Brian Sozzi at Macy's flagship store in New York City's Herald Square on Friday, CEO Jeff Gennette said that Macy's is on track to reach its target of $1 billion in mobile sales by year-end.

"We are going to hit $1 billion in mobile sales for the first time in 2018," he said, adding that mobile is now the "mode of choice" for research, finding reviews, and transactions, and that's "only going to increase."

The department store chain has been improving its mobile shopping platform, rolling out new services such as mobile checkout in order to compete with the likes of Amazon and other convenient shopping solutions.

Business Insider/Mary Hanbury

Signs at Macy's Herald Square location advise shoppers to use the app.

Macy's is also looking to bring augmented reality to its app to enable customers to virtually try on beauty products at home.

These improvements come at an important time as mobile shopping experiences explosive growth.

Smartphones accounted for 36.7% of all sales on Thanksgiving Day this year, up from 29.1% in 2017, according to Adobe Analytics.

"Mobile shopping continues to skyrocket," Taylor Schreiner, director of Adobe Digital Insights, said in a statement to the press on Friday morning. "Retailers understand that shopping and buying on smartphones is now the norm for consumers, and as a result are delivering better experiences and optimization on mobile devices."

More on Black Friday 2018:

• Thanksgiving is killing Black Friday by replacing it
• Black Friday deals sold out at stores like Walmart and Target before Friday even began - and people are furious
• Macy's, Best Buy, Kohl's, and JCPenney are being slammed for being open on Thanksgiving - and some people are threatening not to shop with them this holiday season
• Walmart says it's offering thousands more deals than last year on Cyber Monday in a direct shot at Amazon's most valuable day
• Walmart shoppers are complaining that stores are running out of iPhones as Black Friday sales begin