IBM (NYSE: IBM) today reported strong online and mobile sales for Cyber Monday 2014, capping a record five-day span for holiday shopping, based on consumer transaction data analyzed in real-time by the IBM Digital Analytics Benchmark. The data-driven insight gives retailers and marketers more than 370 performance indicators to benchmark themselves against industry peers to drive more targeted customer engagements.
Heading back to work, consumers clicked their way to the best deals on Cyber Monday – which remained the busiest online shopping day of the holiday season. Online sales grew 8.5 percent compared to 2013, with mobile sales up 27.6 percent year-over-year. New York City also continued its run as the top U.S. city for online shopping, retaining the top spot on both Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
IBM reported strong growth on Thanksgiving and Black Friday, culminating with a record five-day ‘Cyber Week’ period for online shopping. From Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday, overall online sales increased 12.6 percent, with mobile sales up 27.2 percent compared to the same period in 2013. iOS devices continued to lead in mobile shopping with traffic more than twice, and sales nearly four times, that of Android devices during Cyber Week.
“For the first time mobile devices drove more than half of Thanksgiving online traffic, a trend that continued throughout Cyber Week,” said Jay Henderson, Director, IBM Smarter Commerce. “As the holiday shopping season becomes less concentrated on a single day, retailers and marketers took advantage by making it easier for consumers to find the best deals on the go, whenever and wherever they chose to shop.”
The IBM Digital Analytics Benchmark is delivered to clients through the company’s Smarter Commerceinitiative, which combines innovation from $3.5 billion invested to develop the industry’s leading customer engagement platform with expertise working with 8,000 global brands and 35,000 commerce engagements.
The company released the following trends as of 12:00 am PST this morning:
Cyber Monday 2014 Compared to Cyber Monday 2013:
- Online Sales Grow: The Monday after Thanksgiving remained the busiest day for online shopping over the five day period. Cyber Monday online sales grew by 8.5 percent over 2013. Average order value was $124.21, down 3.5 percent year-over-year.
- Cyber Monday Becomes Mobile Monday: Cyber Monday mobile traffic accounted for 41.2 percent of all online traffic, up 30.1 percent over 2013. Mobile sales were also strong, reaching 22 percent of total Cyber Monday online sales, an increase of 27.6 percent year-over-year.
- New York City Takes Top Spot for Cyber Sales: New York City again claimed the top spot for Cyber Monday sales, followed by Washington, D.C.; Atlanta, GA; Los Angeles, CA; and Chicago, IL. On average, New York City shoppers spent $112.44 per order on Cyber Monday.
- Smartphones Browse, Tablets Buy: As the new digital shopping companion for many consumers, smartphones drove 28.5 percent of all Cyber Monday online traffic, more than double that of tablets, which accounted for 12.5 percent of all traffic. Yet, when it comes to mobile sales, tablets continue to win the shopping war – driving 12.9 percent of online sales compared to 9.1 percent for smartphones, a difference of 41.5 percent. Tablet users also averaged $121.49 per order compared to $99.61 for smartphone users, a difference of 22 percent.
- iOS vs. Android: iOS once again led the way in mobile shopping this holiday season, outpacing Android across three key metrics on Cyber Monday:
- Average Order Value: iOS users averaged $114.79 per order compared to $96.84 for Android users, a difference 18.5 percent.
- Online Traffic: iOS traffic accounted for 28.7 percent of total online traffic, more than double that of Android, which drove 12.2 percent of all online traffic.
- Online Sales: iOS sales accounted for 17.4 percent of total online sales, more than four times that of Android, which drove 4.4 percent of all online sales.
- Retailers Use Email to Deliver Follow-Up Deals*: Transactional messages, or emails that are automatically triggered by a consumer’s action like a purchase receipt or cart abandonment, increased 48 percent year-over-year. The median number of emails sent to consumers from retailers on Cyber Monday was two, remaining the same in 2014 compared to 2013. Open and click through rates on Cyber Monday were 12.8 percent and 2.2 percent, respectively. More than 46 percent of Cyber Monday emails were opened on mobile devices or tablets, versus 52 percent on desktops.
- The Desktop is Not Dead: As shoppers returned to work on Cyber Monday, desktop PCs accounted for 58.6 percent of all online traffic and 78 percent of all online sales. Consumers also spent more while shopping on their PCs with an average order value of $128.24 compared to $110.72 for mobile shoppers, a difference of 15.8 percent.
- Social Influence – Facebook vs. Pinterest: As marketers continue to rely on social channels to drive brand loyalty and sales, IBM analyzed trends across two leading sites, Facebook and Pinterest. Pinterest referrals drove an average of $97.78 per order compared to $123.44 for Facebook, a difference of 26.2 percent.
The IBM Digital Analytics Benchmark also reported real-time trends across four of the hottest retail categories this holiday season:
- Department Stores: Cyber Monday online sales grew by 17.9 percent over 2013, with mobile percentage of sales up 21.3 percent. Average order value was $146.07, a decrease of 9.7 percent year-over-year.
- Health and Beauty: Cyber Monday online sales grew by 3.8 percent over 2013, with mobile percentage of sales up 27.5 percent. Average order value was $57.94, a decrease of 3.8 percent year-over-year.
- Home Goods: Cyber Monday online sales grew by 27.5 percent over 2013, with mobile percentage of sales up 13.2 percent. Average order value was $247.56, an increase of 10.9 percent year-over-year.
- Apparel: Cyber Monday online sales grew by 3.4 percent over 2013, with mobile percentage of sales up 28.9 percent. Average order value was $100.67, a decrease of 2.1 percent year-over-year.
Cyber Monday 2014 Compared to Black Friday 2014:
- Cyber Monday Still Largest for Online Sales: Cyber Monday online sales were 30.5 percent higher than Black Friday in 2014. However, Black Friday shoppers spent an average of $129.37 per order, compared to $124.11 per order on Cyber Monday, a difference of 4.2 percent.
- Black Friday Shoppers More Mobile: Mobile traffic and sales decreased between Black Friday and Cyber Monday as consumers headed back to the office. Cyber Monday mobile sales were down 21.2 percent, and mobile traffic down 17 percent, compared to Black Friday.