Consumer Analytics

New York City -- Online sales on Cyber Monday were up 33% over 2010, with shopping peaks occurring at 2:05 p.m. EST, according to IBM’s fourth annual Cyber Monday Benchmark study. The average ticket increased 2.6% to $198.26, compared with $193.24 last year.

Among other key Cyber Monday Benchmark findings:

By Jackie Sloane

Earlier than ever opening hours over the holiday weekend placed unprecedented demands on store associates. Whether full time workers or among the hundreds of thousands of seasonal employees whose services are required to cope with the peak demands of the holidays, one thing is clear. Energy and attitude can amount to retailers’ “engagement advantage,” arguably the most crucial differentiating factor when it comes to influencing purchase decisions, sales and long-term loyalty.

Retailers who promoted their online presence as a way to avoid the crowds this past weekend were rewarded for their efforts with record sales on Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday.

All those flat screens televisions sticking out of shopping carts in the aisles of Target stores early Friday morning were no optical illusion.

New York City -- Online sales on Cyber Monday were up mid-afternoon by 15% from a year ago, according to IBM Benchmark.

In other mid-afternoon results, IBM reported:

• The number of consumers using a mobile device to visit a retailer's site is 12.4%.
• The number of consumers using their mobile device to make a purchase is at 7.37%; and
• iPhone continues to lead all mobile device traffic at 4.88%, followed by Android at 3.9% and iPad at 3.26%.

Armonk, N.Y. -- U.S. shoppers took advantage of early sales this holiday driving a 39.3% increase in online Thanksgiving day spending while setting the stage for 24.3% online growth on Black Friday compared with the same period last year, according to the fourth annual IBM Coremetrics Black Friday Benchmark study, which tracks more than a million transactions a day, analyzing terabytes of raw data from 500 retailers nationwide.

New York City -- Heading into the holiday season it was widely expected that online sales would enjoy another year of double-digit growth, and now new data from the online measurement firm comScore confirms those earlier expectations.

Reston, Va. -- For the first 20 days of November, comScore reported that online spending rose 14% to $9.7 billion. The company forecast that online sales for the full November through December period would increase 15% to a total of $37.6 billion.

New York City -- Consumer spending rose less than forecast in October as Americans even as personal incomes showed the biggest gains in seven months.

The Commerce Department said Wednesday that spending increased 0.1% last month, the poorest gain in four months. But incomes increased 0.4%, the best showing since March, with private wages and salaries driving the income gain.

Most economists had forecast spending to rise by 0.3% and income by 0.2%.
 

NEW YORK — Most consumers have their wallets ready for Thanksgiving weekend and are armed with plans to spend an average of $224, according to Deloitte's pre-Thanksgiving shopping survey.