The U.S.
online retail sector achieved 7.5 percent growth in December 2011, compared
with the same period the year before, according to IBM's cloud-based analytics
reports.
IBM's findings
follow a strong November in which both Black Friday 2011 and Cyber Monday 2011 delivered
double-digit growth over 2010.
Delivered as
part of IBM’s Smarter Commerce initiative, the IBM Benchmark December holiday
report showed several year-over-year trends, including that 14.6 percent of all
online sessions on a retailer’s site were initiated from a mobile device, which
is more than double the rate of 5.6 percent from this same period in 2010.
In addition,
sales from mobile devices doubled, reaching 11 percent, versus 5.5 percent in
December 2010. And Apple’s iPhone and iPad ranked No. 1 and No. 2 for mobile
device retail traffic—5.2 percent and 4.3 percent, respectively. Android was
third at 4.1 percent.
Moreover, IBM
said shoppers using the iPad also drove more retail purchases than any other
device, with conversion rates reaching 6.3 percent, compared with 3.1 percent
for all mobile devices.
"This
past December, consumers remained committed to finding the best online deals,
whether through their PC or mobile device,” John Squire, chief strategy officer
for IBM Smarter Commerce, said in a statement. “By employing a smarter approach
to commerce, many retailers were successful in helping to connect their
customers with the best deals from anywhere and at any time, even on Christmas
Day where online shopping grew by 16.4 percent over 2010.”
Meanwhile, IBM
also broke out online sales according to categories. Department stores
continued to offer an array of deals and promotions that caught the attention
of consumers. As a result, department stores' online sales were up 18 percent
over December 2010. Home goods also reported a 15.6 percent increase in sales
over December with consumers continuing to shift their attention toward the
home. Online apparel sales also were strong, realizing an increase of 16.3
percent from 2010. And health and beauty online sales grew 16 percent from the
same period in 2010.
IT & Network Infrastructure News & Reviews 
