eWEEK content and product recommendations are editorially independent. We may make money when you click on links to our partners. Learn More.
U.S. shoppers made Cyber Monday the biggest online shopping day in history, with a 20.6 percent increase in online sales, data from the IBM Digital Analytics Benchmark show.
IBM said mobile sales led the way, exceeding 17 percent of total online sales, an increase of 55.4 percent year-over-year, according to results from the cloud-based IBM Digital Analytics Benchmark, a real-timeplatform that tracks millions of transactions and analyzes terabytes of raw data from approximately 800 retail sites nationwide. Moreover, Cyber Monday also capped the highest five-day online sales period on record—from Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday—which grew 16.5 percent over the same period in 2012.
“We continue to see a dramatic movement of the new digitally savvy consumer as Cyber Monday once again proved to be the star of this holiday shopping season,” Jay Henderson, strategy director for IBM Smarter Commerce, said in a statement. “The mobile device has become the shopping companion of choice for consumers, driving record mobile sales, with 55 percent growth over last year.”
With an increase in online sales across multiple channels, chief marketing officers (CMOs) are turning to cloud-based, real-time analytics from IBM to understand and act on consumer trends in the moment. IBM seeks to help marketing, e-commerce, merchandising and customer service leaders build deeper customer relationships across every touch in the commerce cycle.
Marking the close of Cyber Monday, as of midnight Dec. 3, IBM identified several trends, including that Cyber Monday online sales grew by 20.6 percent from 2012, with an average order value of $128.77, down 1 percent year-over-year.
New York City took the top spot for total online retail sales on Cyber Monday. Rounding out the top five were Washington, D.C.; Los Angeles; Chicago and Atlanta. And mobile traffic grew to 31.7 percent of all online traffic, increasing by 45 percent over 2012. Mobile sales were also very strong, exceeding 17 percent of total online sales, an increase of 55.4 percent year-over-year.
IBM’s data showed that consumers used smartphones to browse, but tablets to buy items. Smartphones drove 19.7 percent of all online traffic, compared with tablets at 11.5 percent, making it the browsing device of choice.
However, when it came to making the sale, tablets drove 11.7 percent of all online sales; more than double that of smartphones, which accounted for 5.5 percent. On average, tablet users spent $126.30 per order, compared with smartphone users who spent $106.49.
Also, regarding the OS of choice, iOS users spent more than Android users. On average, iOS users spent $120.29 per order, compared with $106.70 per order for Android. iOS traffic reached 22.4 percent of all online traffic, compared with 9.1 percent for Android. iOS sales reached 14.5 percent of all online sales, compared with 2.6 percent for Android.
IBM Sees Cyber Monday Go Mobile With 55% Sales Growth
Retailers continued to push promotions to mobile shoppers on Cyber Monday. During the five-day shopping period, retailers sent, on average, 77 percent more push notifications (which refer to the alert messages and pop-up notifications from apps installed on your mobile device), when compared to daily averages over the past two months. Average daily retail app installations also grew by 29 percent using the same comparison.
And in a comparison of the social networks, Facebook users tended to spend more. On average, holiday shoppers referred from Facebook spent 6 percent more per order than shoppers referred from Pinterest. Facebook average order value was $97.81, versus Pinterest average order value of $92.40. Facebook referrals converted sales at a rate 38 percent higher than Pinterest.
Meanwhile, IBM also noted that Cyber Monday outpaced Black Friday in terms of sales. Cyber Monday online sales were up 31.5 percent over Black Friday this year, yet consumers spent 5 percent more per order on Black Friday versus Cyber Monday. Cyber Monday shoppers spent 5 percent less per order with an average order value of $128.77, compared with $135.27 for Black Friday.
Mobile sales and traffic decreased between Black Friday and Cyber Monday as shoppers went back to work and school. Cyber Monday mobile sales were down 21 percent, and mobile traffic was down 20 percent from Black Friday. And Cyber Monday online shoppers showed more of a tendency to close the deal than Black Friday shoppers. IBM said shoppers purchased the items they added to their online shopping carts at a 12.6 higher rate on Cyber Monday than on Black Friday.
IBM also tracked real-time trends across four of the hottest retail categories this holiday season: department stores, health and beauty products, home goods and apparel. For department stores, Cyber Monday total online sales grew by 70.3 percent over 2012, with mobile sales growing 52 percent year-over-year. Average order value was $161.83, up 18.7 percent year-over-year.
Cyber Monday total online sales of health and beauty products grew by 65.1 percent over 2012, with mobile sales growing 84 percent year-over-year. Average order value was $60.22, an increase of 6.8 percent year-over-year.
For home goods, Cyber Monday’s total online sales grew by 26.5 percent over 2012 levels, with mobile sales growing 40.5 percent year-over-year. Average order value was $182.19, an increase of 9.2 percent year-over-year.
Finally, Cyber Monday total online sales of apparel grew by 22.5 percent over 2012 levels, with mobile sales growing by 58.3 percent year-over-year. Average order value was $102.83, a decrease of 6.9 percent year-over-year.