The U.S. online retail sector delivered strong growth on Cyber Monday 2011 compared to the same period last year, according to cloud-based analytics findings by IBM, based on findings from IBM’s fourth annual Cyber Monday Benchmark.
These are the trends uncovered by IBM, as part of its Smarter Commerce initiative, as of 12 p.m. PST.
Consumer Spending Increases: Online sales were up 33.0% over Cyber Monday 2010, with consumers pushing the average order value up from $193.24 to $198.26 for an increase of 2.6%.
Shopping Peaks at 11:05am PST/2:05pm EST:Consumers flocked online, with shopping momentum hitting its highest peak at 11:05am PST/2:05pm EST. Consumer shopping also maintained strong momentum after commuting hours on both the east and west coast.
Mobile Sales and Traffic Grows:On Cyber Monday, 10.8% of people used a mobile device to visit a retailer’s site, up from 3.9% in 2010. Additionally, mobile sales grew dramatically, reaching 6.6% on Cyber Monday versus 2.3% in 2010.
Consumer Spending Increases:Online sales were up 29.3% over Black Friday.
The Mobile Bargain Hunter:On Cyber Monday mobile traffic averaged 10.8% compared to 14.3% on Black Friday.
Mobile Sales:Consumer sales on mobile devices reached 6.6% versus 9.8% on Black Friday.
The Apple Shopper: Apple’s iPhone and iPad continued to rank one and two for mobile device retail traffic (4.1% and 3.3% respectively). Android maintained its position in third at 3.2%. Collectively iPhone and iPad accounted for 7.4% of all online retail traffic versus 10.2% on Black Friday.
The iPad Factor:Shoppers using the iPad also continued to drive more retail purchases than any other device with conversion rates reaching 5.2% compared to 4.6%.
The Social Influence:Shoppers referred from Social Networks generated 0.56% of all online sales on Cyber Monday versus 0.53% on Black Friday. Similar to Black Friday, Facebook led the pack, accounting for 86% of all social media traffic.
Social Media Chatter: Discussions on social media sites leading up to Cyber Monday increased in volume by 115% compared to 2010. Top areas of discussion focused on consumers sharing tips about using price comparison websites while avoiding cyber scams, Cyber Monday deals for international consumers and conversations about Black Friday in-store shopping experiences.