IBM: Mother’s Day mobile sales up 23%

ARMONK, N.Y. -- Consumers shopping online for Mother’s Day gifts was up 15%, spurred by mobile commerce growth of 23% over 2012, according to IBM’s Digital Analytics Benchmark, a cloud-based analysis of the online retail market.



A key finding of the IBM Benchmark was that retailers are making it easier for mobile shoppers to browse and buy with a tap of their finger by customizing mobile apps and web sites for on-the-go consumers. As marketers improved the digital buying experience, the average amount of time spent shopping was down by more than 10%, indicating that retailers have a better understanding of who individual shoppers are and what products they want to buy. This Mother’s Day, mobile shoppers took less time to buy. Consumers browsed and shopped in half the time through mobile devices as compared to desktop users.



In addition, mobile shoppers averaged an estimated three-and-a-half minutes per shopping session whereas desktop computer users took twice as long to shop with an average of six minutes to complete their transactions. 





In other findings from the IBM Digital Analytics Benchmark report:

• In the week leading up to Mother’s Day, online shopping grew by 15%, with average orders reaching $209, representing a four percent increase compared to the same period last year.

• Department store sales were up by more than 20% in the week leading up to Mother’s Day compared to the same time last year. Retailers simplified the digital buying experience for customers, with iPad conversions increased dramatically by more than 315%, with the iPhone increasing 184%.

• In the three weeks leading up to Mother’s Day, online jewelry sales nearly tripled compared to last year, representing a 180.6% increase. Mobile traffic was up almost 59% and mobile sales were up almost 38% compared to 2012.

This news is based on findings from the IBM Digital Benchmark, described by IBM as the industry’s only cloud-based Web analytics platform that tracks more than a million e-commerce transactions a day, analyzing terabytes of raw data from 500 retailers nationwide. The IBM Digital Benchmark uses anonymous data from the IBM Data Analytics Benchmark to provide the most accurate and immediate snap shot online shopping trends.