MCM Staff
Mobile commerce has arrived, and proved to be a game-changer over Cyber Weekend. From Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday, the IBM Digital Analytics Benchmark showed that overall online sales increased 12.6%, with mobile sales up 27.2% compared to the same period in 2013.
In the two days before Thanksgiving, MarketLive merchants grew revenue an average of 20%, as compared to an industry average of 11% growth in pre holiday spending reported by ComScore.
On Cyber Monday, the biggest online shopping day of the year, Amazon revealed its newest generation fulfillment center using robotics, vision systems and high-end technology to speed up order delivery times for customers. Take a look at the Kiva Robots in action.
Walmart announced that Cyber Monday 2014 was the biggest online day in its history for orders. Walmart saw a higher traffic surge than previous years in the evening as it offered the Cyber Monday Evening Edition with great deals at a time convenient for working Americans and millennials.
Cyber Monday 2014 posts a 17% annual gain in online desktop sales, while weekend buying increased 26%. Cyber Weekend grows 24%.
Bluefly said it had its best cyber weekend ever. Sales for Bluefly increased 36% year-over-year, and Bluefly’s Marketplace had its highest selling days in its history.
Thanksgiving posted a 32% gain to $1.0 billion in desktop ecommerce spending, while Black Friday jumped 26% to $1.5 billion, pushing season-to-date growth rate to 15%, according to comScore.
Early holiday promotions, the continued growth of online shopping, and an improving economy changed the way millions of people approached the biggest shopping weekend of the year.
On Thursday evening, Rue La La shoppers pushed back from the Thanksgiving table and turned to their devices. The members-only flash-sales site reported record-breaking sales via mobile devices Thanksgiving, with 68% of sales coming from mobile.
As retailers prepare for the crucial holiday shopping season, many could be driving customers away by promoting irrelevant products, failing to build customer relationships through intelligent follow-up, and ignoring consumer preferences on end-to-end order tracking. Here’s a look at why 74% on online retailers fail to build customer relationships that drive repeat purchases.