• by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer @lauriesullivan, December 2, 2013

My fiance spent about a month searching online for a desk and finally decided to pull the trigger last night at around 9 p.m. Pacific, as prices began to change for Cyber Monday sales. Our breakfast conversation went like this: "Your friends were at it last night, targeting me on specific items after I left the retailer's Web site," and "I was researching desks, totaling the cost for the pieces, and suddenly the page refreshed and prices changed." The "your friends" reference, of course, refers to you -- the marketers reading Search Marketing Daily. Whatever you did -- thank goodness, it worked. He bought a desk and chair.

He is not the only one spending, spending, and spending more online this holiday season. Overall online sales from Thanksgiving Day through Sunday rose 14.5% in 2013 over the same period last year.

Smartphones drove 25% of all online traffic compared with tablets at 15.2%, Thanksgiving Day through Sunday. Tablets drove 15.7% of all online sales -- more than double the percentage for smartphones, which accounted for 7.4%. Tablet users also averaged $127.73 per order, versus smartphone users -- who averaged $111.43 per order, per IBM.

ChannelAdvisor reported that Amazon same-store sales rose 30.7% Thursday, 34.7% Friday, and 23.7% Saturday compared with the year-ago dates. The company also said Google Shopping and Product Listing Ads (PLAs) rose 145%, 126%, and 111% on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, respectively.

Research firm comScore expects Cyber Monday sales to reach $2 billion -- up from about $1.47 billion last year -- with online sales accounting for about 10% of the total consumers will spend during the holiday.

The National Retail Federation (NFR) found that 41% of consumers surveyed shopped online during the four-day weekend, or approximately 59 million shoppers. Of those, the average person spent $177.67 online, or approximately 43.7% of their total weekend spending -- up from 40.7% last year. NRF also asked shoppers which days they shopped online. About 26.5% of holiday shoppers said they shopped online on Thanksgiving Day, and 47.1% shopped online on Black Friday. Some 35.7% shopped online on Saturday and 24.5 percent said they have shopped or will shop online on Sunday.

The NRF survey also asked consumers whether they will shop online Cyber Monday. About 54.8% said yes.

Those who braved the stores last weekend know that despite technological advances in retail mobile integration through coupons, branded apps, and more, some 54% of shoppers used their mobile devices during Black Friday for entertainment while waiting in line, according to SessionM. Shoppers -- at 41% -- also pulled out their phones to check prices to ensure they were getting the best deal.

Interestingly, only 39% of shoppers on Black Friday entered their retailer of choice with a particular item in mind to purchase, suggesting that consumers were more excited by the great bargain versus a particular store item, per SessionM.