Online sales on Cyber Monday jumped 31.1% over Black Friday levels and 19.4% over Cyber Monday 2009 as average online spending by consumers rose to $195 from $180 a year earlier, according to data from IBM Coremetrics.
Mobile devices generated more online traffic than Facebook or other social networking sites, which originated less than 1% of visits to retailer sites.
The numbers were encouraging given that “Cyber Monday” is usually eclipsed in the second or third week of December as the single busiest online shopping day as Americans rush to meet retailers’ shipping deadlines for the holidays. John Squire, chief strategy officer for IBM Coremetrics, attributed the growth to more consumer optimism and better online merchandizing.
“Consumers this year appear much more willing to open their wallets and are turning to online stores for the convenience of shopping wherever and whenever they like, but also as their primary source of information about products and inventory levels, he said. “Retailers have done an exceptional job across the board of appealing to consumers with highly personalized promotions and a slew of free shipping promotions.”
Luxury Goods Make a Comeback: Affluent shoppers opened their wallets wide, driving sales of luxury goods up 24.3% on Cyber Monday from a year earlier. Jewelry sales were up 60.3% from Black Friday.
Mobile Shopping: On Cyber Monday, 3.9% of people visited a retailer’s site using a mobile device, a jump of 26.7% compared to Black Friday.
Social Shopping: Social networking sites played a minor role in driving traffic to online stores. Less than 1% of visitors came from such sites with Facebook dominating the space.
