Cyber Monday the most successful day in retail history
Cyber Monday has come and gone and left the retail industry rejoicing what has become one of the most successful holiday shopping weekends ever. Retailers saw record sales on Cyber Monday as shoppers flocked to e-commerce sites to make purchases online. According to IBM Digital Analytics Benchmark, online sales this year rose by 30% over what they had been on Cyber Monday in 2011. IBM suggests that Cyber Monday has become the most successful online shopping day the retail industry has ever seen.
Consumers flock online for major deals
Consumers did not just use their computers to buy products online, many of them also turned to their smart phones and tablets. Mobile devices accounted for a significant portion of the sales that retailers saw on Cyber Monday. Indeed, many retailers sought to engage consumers through various mobile commerce efforts that offered deals specifically to those that made purchases using a specialized application or a smart phones or tablet.
Mobile sales soar due to the efforts of retailers
Part of the success that retailers saw through their online platforms comes from the fact that they did not actually wait until Monday to begin providing deals. Traditionally, retailers wait until Cyber Monday arrives to begin offering online-only deals. This year, however, many decided to introduce these deals on Thanksgiving and Black Friday, hoping to take advantage of the holiday shopping buzz. This proved especially successful among mobile consumers who were eager to use their devices to find products they were interested in.
Consumers still have time to benefit from mobile commerce initiatives
Though the most significant holiday shopping weekend of the year has come to an end, mobile commerce is still expected to play a major role in the remainder of the holiday season. Consumers have plenty of time to continue shopping before Christmas arrives and they will also be able to take advantage of the deals offered by retailers as that day draws nearer.
Mobile commerce performs well on Thanksgiving day
Mobile commerce has performed well, even ahead of Black Friday. The holiday season has been expected to be a major success for the mobile commerce industry, but this success may be quickly exceeding the expectations of retailers and those invested in the mobile commerce industry itself. According to data from IBM’s Benchmark service, a platform that provides ongoing measurements of the performance of more than 500 retail companies in the U.S., shows that consumers have been eager to kick start their holiday shopping.
Data shows mobile traffic spikes on Thanksgiving
According to the data from the Benchmark service, online sales spiked 14% on Thanksgiving day, with each sale accounting for an average of $132. The data highlights a strong showing from the mobile commerce sector, where a veritable tide of consumers have been using their mobile devices to purchase products online and at the few retail locations that were open on the holiday. The data shows that the number of consumers using a mobile device to visit a retail site reached 26% on Thanksgiving day, up from the 15% it had been in the previous year.
Apple suggests shopping on holidays becoming more socially acceptable
Technology giant Apple suggests that this is largely due to the concept that mobile commerce and shopping has become more socially acceptable on the day of the holiday. In the past, shopping on Thanksgiving day may have been considered somewhat anti-social, if not wholly impossible due to it being a federal holiday. The stigma surrounding holiday shopping may be diminishing, however, as IBM sees a significant uptick in the number of consumers that are actually purchasing products from their mobile devices. Approximately 9% of all mobile traffic is coming from iOS devices, such as the iPhone and iPad, according to Apple.
Data expected to show capabilities of mobile commerce
The data from the IBM Benchmark service shows that mobile commerce certainly kicked off the holiday shopping season, which began nearly 24 hours before Black Friday. Black Friday remains the most important day of the year for the retail industry, however, and the data for such a major shopping day is expected to further show how powerful mobile commerce is becoming with consumers.
