IBM: Holiday shoppers go high-tech

Retailers just went through an increasingly digital and mobile holiday season.



According to analysis performed by the IBM Watson business intelligence platform, the average order value for the mobile and desktop shopper combined was $127.49, up 2.5% from 2014 ($124.33).



Consumers also shopped via their mobile devices in growing numbers. Mobile traffic exceeded desktop, traffic, accounting for 52% of all online traffic. This was a 17% increase in mobile traffic from 2014.



Mobile sales were also strong, with 31% of all online sales coming from mobile devices, an increase of 46% from the prior year.



Smartphone shoppers spent $107.33 per order. Desktop shoppers still had the highest average order value of $134.87, followed closely by tablets at $131.88.



However, smartphones remained the leading holiday shopping device. Smartphones accounted for 40% of all online traffic, more than three times that of tablets at 12%. Smartphones surpassed tablets in sales, driving 16% of online sales (up more than 90% from 2014), compared to tablets at 14.5%.



In addition, Apple Watch remained the number one popular product trending on social media the week of Dec. 21-26, holding a spot it had held since Nov. 18.