IBM: Mobile consumers boosts online Christmas sales

New York - Christmas Day saw both strong online and mobile sales. Key Christmas Day trends reported by the IBM Digital Analytics Benchmark include an 8.3% year-over-year increase in online sales.



In addition, mobile traffic accounted for 57.1% of all online traffic on Christmas Day, an increase of 18.6% from the prior year. Mobile sales accounted for 34.8% of all online sales on Christmas Day, an increase of 20.4% year-over-year.



Smartphones drove 40.6% of total online traffic, more than two and a half times that of tablets, which accounted for 15.9% of all online traffic. However, tablet sales accounted for 18.4% of online sales, compared to smartphones, which accounted for 16.3% of total online sales, a difference of 12.4%.



Desktop PC traffic still represented 42.6% of all online traffic, and 65.2% of all online sales. Further, consumers spent more money on their desktops with an average order value of $107.72 compared to their mobile devices at $88.70 a difference of 21.4%.



Apple iOS once again led the way in mobile shopping this holiday season, outpacing Android across three key metrics:



-- Average Order Value: Apple iOS users averaged $97.28 per order compared to $67.40 for Android users, a difference of 44.3%.

-- Online Traffic: Apple iOS traffic accounted for 39.1% of total online traffic, more than double that of Android, which drove 17.7% of all online traffic.

-- Online Sales: Apple iOS sales accounted for 27% of total online sales, nearly four times that of Android, which drove 7.6% of all online sales.



And as marketers continue to rely on social channels to drive brand loyalty and sales, IBM analyzed trends across two leading sites, Facebook and Pinterest. Facebook referrals drove an average of $89.80 per order, while Pinterest referrals averaged $99.86 per order.



Average order value was $100.33, up 6.2% from 2013. Shoppers also purchased an average of 3.5 items per order, down 1.4%. IBM says this trend may indicate that shoppers are becoming more comfortable and digitally savvy in how they use online coupons and rebates to secure the best bargains.