Sales made via mobile devices on Boxing Day rise 63% on 2012
Sales via mobile devices on Boxing Day grew by 63% year-on-year and accounted for over 45% of online sales, according to figures released by IBM.
With the majority of traffic to retail websites coming from mobile devices on Boxing Day, IBM has suggested that retailers need to distinguish between the different ways that smartphones and tablets are being used by consumers.
The IBM Digital Analytics Benchmark shows that smartphones drove 29.9% of all online traffic on Boxing Day compared to 28% for tablets. When it came to making purchases, however, tablet users drove 29.4% of online sales. This was nearly twice that of smartphones users who drove 15.8% of online sales.
Average order value on tablets was £83.55 compared to £78.06 on mobile phones.
Never Miss a Retail Update!Looking at iOS versus Android, IBM found that iOS traffic generated 41.8% of all online traffic and 34.7% of all online sales while Android generated 15.1% of all online traffic and 9.8% of all online sales. On average, iOS users spent £82.33 per order, compared to £78.93 per order for Android users.
Overall, online sales increased by 40.4% on Boxing Day 2012.
James Lovell, Smarter Commerce retail solutions consultant, Europe, IBM: “This is the first time that traffic on mobile devices has outstripped the PC. Mobile has rapidly become the dominant channel and now retailers really need to look at the role that each device is going to play within the overall customer journey and decision making process. The key challenge will be how they maximise the effectiveness of these devices to help augment the in-store customer experience as well as the traditional digital only channels.”
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