IBM: Cyber Monday sales up 21%; biggest online shopping day ever
Armonk, N.Y. - Shoppers made Cyber Monday 2013 the biggest online shopping day in history with a 20.6% increase in online sales. The latest cloud-based analytics findings from IBM show that mobile sales led the way, exceeding 17% of total online sales, an increase of 55.4% year-over-year.
Cyber Monday also capped what IBM data indicates is the highest five-day online sales period on record from Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday, which grew 16.5% from 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,” said Jay Henderson, strategy director, IBM Smarter Commerce. “The mobile device has become the shopping companion of choice for consumers, driving record mobile sales with 55% growth over last year.”
IBM released the following trends comparing Cyber Monday 2013 to Cyber Monday 2012:
- Average order value was $128.77, down 1%.
- New York 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.
- Mobile traffic grew to 31.7% of all online traffic, increasing by 45% from 2012. Mobile sales were also very strong, exceeding 17% of total online sales, an increase of 55.4% year-over-year.
- Smartphones drove 19.7% of all online traffic compared to tablets at 11.5%, making it the browsing device of choice. When it comes to making the sale, tablets drove 11.7% of all online sales, more than double that of smartphones, which accounted for 5.5%.
- On average, tablet users spent $126.30 per order compared to smartphone users who spent $106.49.
On average, holiday shoppers referred from Facebook spent 6% more per order than shoppers referred from Pinterest. Facebook average order value was $97.81, compared to Pinterest average order value, which was $92.40. Facebook referrals converted sales at a rate 38% higher than Pinterest.