Although there was no shortage of in-store mayhem this Black Friday, shoppers are increasingly opting to take advantage of the major discounts online—and on their phones— new reports show.
Black Friday online sales broke new records this year, according to new data from IBM, with mobile traffic outpacing PC traffic for the first time ever leading up to Black Friday.
Analyzing customer transaction data, IBM found that on Thanksgiving day, browsing on smartphones and tablets accounted for 52.1% of all online traffic, and online sales that day were up 14.3% compared to 2013.
“Mobile has become the new Thanksgiving tradition as consumers find the best deals with their fingers as well as their feet,” Jay Henderson, Director of IBM Smarter Commerce said in a statement. “We saw retailers harness the power of data to engage shoppers, identifying the unique preferences of their customers while quickly capitalizing on online, mobile or in-store trends as they emerged.”
Thursday’s mobile milestone fueled record online purchases on Black Friday, which saw a 9.5% year-over-year increase in overall online sales. Mobile sales accounted for 27.9% of these sales, up 28.2% over 2013.
Data from PayPal similarly reflected mobile growth, with a 43% global increase in the number of customers shopping through PayPal mobile on Thanksgiving 2014 compared to Thanksgiving 2013.
Fashion was the top mobile shopping category, driving almost twice as much PayPal global mobile payment volume as the next category, electronics.
IBM also noted that Black Friday shopping is increasingly pushing back into Thanksgiving Day. Online sales that day increased 14.3% over 2013. Black Friday sales were 63.5% higher than Thanksgiving Day this year, a decrease from 2013 when they were 70% higher than Thanksgiving Day.
New York City remained the top location for online Black Friday shopping, with shoppers spending an average of $121.91 per order. Washington, D.C., Atlanta, Los Angeles and Chicago followed New York City to round out the top five cities for online shopping.
Although mobile was huge for online shoppers this year, IBM pointed out that “desktop is not dead.”
“When consumers did choose to use their PC or desktop, they spent more with an average order value of $135.33 compared to $116.02 for mobile shoppers,” a difference of 16.6%, according to the IBM report.
Source – mashable