Study details growth of online shopping over holiday period

Move over Cyber Monday, Cyber Week is the new buzz term.



Cyber Week, comprised of Thanksgiving Eve, Nov. 23 through Cyber Monday, Nov. 28, is attracting more shoppers as they “grow more and more comfortable shopping on their phones and tablets, opening up the timetable for brands to reach them during the holiday shopping season," said Tony Zito, CEO, Rakuten Marketing.



Cyber Monday was the highest online revenue-earning day for retailers during Cyber Week, outperforming Black Friday by 45%. Average order values were also slightly higher than in 2015, and 11% higher than a typical week in 2016. Meanwhile, there was 37% year-over-year (YOY) revenue growth of 37% on “Thanksgiving Eve,” according to Rakuten Marketing.



The week-long event also showed shoppers channel-hopping offline and online through mobile and desktop devices. For example, mobile accounted for 41% of retail site traffic, with peak mobile activity on Thanksgiving Day.



Click-through rates peaked between 12 and 2 a.m. EST on Thanksgiving Day, as big-box retailers and department stores released Thanksgiving Day sales. Conversely, there was a delayed peak in Black Friday online sales from 12 a.m. in 2015 to 2 p.m. in 2016. All sales for the shopping event made this the busiest shopping week of 2016, the study said.



“The shifting timeframe of the holiday retail season is indicative of a wider trend that shows consumers are moving to mobile," continued Zito.



”Shoppers, who are able to browse deals from their homes and get retail alerts on-the-go throughout November, aren't limited to the traditional midnight line outside of shopping malls,” he said. “We're excited to see how these trends will affect Cyber Monday activity and predict that sales will continue to increase.”