After the flood of pre-holiday mobile shopping research
we’ve been seeing, some actual mobile activity numbers are starting to come in pointing to some early trends.
Compared to the same weekend last year, this past weekend was a busy one for
mobile shoppers online.
As overall online sales were up (19%) over the same period last year, mobile traffic accounted for more than a third (37%) of all traffic, based on the IBM Digital
Analytics Benchmark.
The data is based on millions of transactions from about 800 retail sites and shows mobile sales as 18% of all online sales, an increase of 39% from last year.
Smartphone traffic accounted for more (22%) of all traffic than did tablets (14%), though, as in all other studies we’ve seen, actual sales on tablets (13%) exceed those made on smartphones
(5%).
Mobile sales grew in each of the categories tracked. Here are the mobile sales increases, year over year:
- 81% -- Health and beauty
- 51% -- Department stores
- 45% -- Apparel
- 38% -- Home goods
Of the actual mobile activity, Apple continues to dominate, according to the IBM study. Apple users led overall traffic (26%) compared to
Android users (11%), with iOS about five times higher than Android as a percentage of total online sales, driving 16% compared to 3% for Android.
On average, Apple users spent $115 per order
compared to $79 for Android users.
Compared to the same shopping day last year, smartphone traffic yesterday accounted for 20% of all online traffic though more people again made purchase via
tablet.
Many shoppers are clearly using their mobile devices throughout the course of the Mobile Shopping Life Cycle.
While the actual transaction may occur from a PC or in a physical
store, retailers can expect that much of the research and purchase decision process going into the final sale was in some way influenced by mobile activity.