According to the year-end online sales trends from the IBM Digital Analytics Benchmark, overall fourth quarter online sales were up 10.3% year-over-year, as mobile traffic soared, accounting for nearly 35% of all online traffic, up 40% compared to the fourth quarter of 2012.

A new Communicus longitudinal study, tracking changes in individual consumers' purchase behavior/intentions related to their Super Bowl commercial engagement, prefaces their findings by saying that advertising should make people buy products, or at least build purchase interest.

Social commerce is becoming mainstream in e-retail, says the recently released Internet Retailer 2014 Social Media 500 report, as large and small retailers moved social media marketing up a notch on their priority lists in 2013.

According to a December Harris Poll, the pessimistic outlook that the economy will get worse (32%) slightly overshadows the belief that it will improve (27%), though the most prevalent opinion is that 42% of respondents say that the economy will stay the same.

According to the Consumer Electronics Association forecast, consumer electronics global spending will fall by about 1% to $1,055 billion from the record levels of 2013, with the consumer electronics industry seeing slower growth in spending on smartphones and tablets

A new Nielsen study says that as VOD continues to take an increasing slice of the TV pie, marketers can take advantage of viewers' growing taste for this menu-driven content.

79% of executives believe Big Data will reach its potential in the next one to five years. Finance, retail, consumer packaged goods and manufacturing, were viewed as the industries that would see the most success with Big Data in 2014.

A new survey from the Pew Research Center's Internet Project shows that 73% of online adults now use a social networking site of some kind. Facebook is the dominant social networking platform in the number of users, but 42% of online adults now use multiple social networking sites.

According to StrongView's "2014 Marketing Trends Survey," marketers plan to increase their budgets on activities that increase customer engagement through more relevant and timely campaigns. 93% of marketers plan to increase or maintain marketing budgets for the year, up from 89% in 2013.

According to the Rocket Lawyer December 2013 Semi-Annual Small Business Survey, more than half of small businesses experienced growth that met or exceeded their expectations in 2013, with 80% reporting they believe 2014 will be even better.