• by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer @lauriesullivan, February 14, 2014

What device drove the most online traffic vs. sales in the week leading up to Valentine's Day 2014? IBM released data Friday that provides insight into the online shopping trends. The data from its Digital Analytics Benchmark report analyzes mobile traffic, social influence, and sales. It turns out smartphones drove more online traffic, but sales still belong to tablets.

Smartphones drove 23.3% of all online traffic, compared with tablets at 13.3%. Tablets drove 11.4% of all online sales -- twice the total of smartphones, which accounted for 5.6%. Tablet users also averaged $135.26 per order, compared with smartphone users at $114.00 per order.

Overall online shopping rose 8% during the week before Valentine's Day compared to the same period in 2013. The category of Gifts rose 19.9%, with mobile sales growing 44.5% year-over-year. The Apparel category grew 17%, with mobile sales growing 41.4% year-over-year. Health and Beauty grew 15%, with mobile sales increasing 67.6% year-over-year. The Department Stores category rose 34%, with mobile sales growing 67.6% year-over-year.

Mobile traffic accounted for 36.8% of all online traffic, up 39.6% compared with the same period last year. Mobile sales also remained strong at 17.2% of all online sales, up 42.9% compared with the year-ago period.

Consumers sporting an iOS spent more online than their Android counterparts. iOS devices drove more than four times more sales than Android -- at about 13.6% vs. 3.4%, respectively. On average, iOS users spent $132.28 per order vs. Android users, who spent $110.54 per order. iOS also led as a component of overall online traffic with 24.6%, nearly twice the percentage of Android users at 11.9%.

Referral traffic from Facebook averaged $125.24 per order, versus Pinterest at $147.74 per order. Similar to past IBM benchmark reports, Facebook referrals converted sales at 3.5 times the rate of Pinterest referrals, suggesting stronger confidence in network recommendations.

"Valentine's Day Tablet" photo from Shutterstock.