Shoppers who have grown more comfortable with shopping and buying on mobile devices powered an increase of more than 8% in online sales this Christmas Day. Mobile purchases alone rose 20% and accounted for 35% of total sales, according to the IBM Digital Analytics Benchmark.
iOS devices remain the apple of Internet retailers’ eyes. Astoundingly, 27% of online sales occurred on iOS—nearly four times that attributed to Android devices at under 8%. “Demographics of Apple users play a big part, yes, but Apple got right the user experiences. It’s easier for people to navigate and buy on iOS,” says Jay Henderson, director of IBM Smarter Commerce.
But ho-ho-hold it a minute. Do not abandon online advertising and website commerce activities just yet. While desktop PCs fell below mobile devices with only 43% of traffic on e-commerce sites on Christmas, they accounted for nearly two thirds of online sales for the day. Average order values were $107.72 on desktop compared to $88.70 on devices.
“People are browsing and buying more on mobile, sure,” Henderson says, “but they’re browsing and buying even more on desktops. It’s easier to input your personal information there, and there are some product categories—often higher-priced items—that are easier to inspect on a larger screen.”
Though Facebook drove the most volume in the social sphere, Pinterest referrals led to average orders of $99.86 to Facebook’s $89.80.
