Record-setting Thanksgiving Day ecommerce sales set the stage for a record Black Friday with online sales growing 18.9% over the same period last year, according to the the IBM Digital Analytics Benchmark.
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The biggest surge came from mobile sales which reached 21.8% of total online sales for Black Friday, a 43% increase. Mobile traffic grew to 39.7% of all online traffic, an increase of 34% over Black Friday 2012.
Black Friday total online sales for department stores grew by 61.4% over 2012, with mobile percentage of sales growing by 46.4%. Average order value was $146.84, an increase of 15% year-over-year.
IBM said consumers used smartphones to browse, but tablets to buy. Smartphones drove 24.9% of all online traffic on Black Friday compared to tablets at 14.2%, making it the browsing device of choice. Tablets drove 14.4% of all online sales, double that of smartphones, which accounted for 7.2% of all online sales.
On average, tablet users spent $132.75 per order compared to smartphone users who spent $115.63, a difference of 15%.
“We’re off to an incredibly fast start this holiday season as retailers and consumers meet at the intersection of cloud, mobile and social platforms to both offer and take advantage of the best deals,” said Jay Henderson, Strategy Director, IBM Smarter Commerce. “This year’s winners will be those that can deliver seamless experiences to consumers wherever, whenever and however they choose to shop.”