Overall holiday online sales were up 13.9 for the 2014 season, according to the IBM Digital Analytics Benchmark. Mobile sales accounted for 22.6 percent of all online sales for the 2014 holiday season, an increase of 27.2 percent year over year.
Mobile traffic accounted for 45 percent of all online traffic for the 2014 holiday season, an increase of 25.5 percent year over year.
Results covered Nov. 1 through Dec. 31.
Among the trends:
Consumers Cash-In on Online Bargains: Average order value was $119.33, down 8 percent over 2013, with shoppers purchasing an average of 4 items per order.
Smartphones Browse, Tablets Buy: Smartphones drove 31.2 percent of total online traffic, nearly two and a half times that of tablets, which accounted for 13.4 percent of all online traffic. However, tablets are winning the shopping war. Tablet sales accounted for 13.4 percent of online sales, compared to smartphones, which accounted for 9.1 percent of total online sales, a difference of 47.3 percent.
The Desktop is Not Dead: Even as mobile shopping continues to grow, many consumers chose a more traditional online experience. Desktop PC traffic represented 54.8 percent of all online traffic, and 77.3 percent of all online sales. Further, consumers spent more money on their desktops with an average order value of $125.12 compared to their mobile devices at $104.82 a difference of 19.4 percent.
Apple iOS vs. Android: Apple iOS once again led the way in mobile shopping this holiday season, outpacing Android across three key metrics:
Average Order Value: Apple iOS users averaged $110.92 per order compared to $87.26 for Android users, a difference of 27.1 percent
Online Traffic: Apple iOS traffic accounted for 30.3 percent of total online traffic, more than double that of Android, which drove 14.3 percent of all online traffic
Online Sales: Apple iOS sales accounted for 17.6 percent of total online sales, nearly four times that of Android, which drove 4.9 percent of all online sales
Facebook vs. Pinterest: As marketers continue to rely on social channels to drive brand loyalty and sales, IBM analyzed trends across two leading sites, Facebook and Pinterest. Facebook referrals drove an average of $101.38 per order, while Pinterest referrals averaged $105.75 per order.
2014 Cyber Security Trends: In a separate study, according to IBM Security researchers, despite a 50 percent decline in the number of cyber attacks against U.S. retailers, thieves still managed to steal more than 61 million records from these businesses over 2014. When it comes to the period around the two biggest shopping days of the year, Black Friday and Cyber Monday, attackers surprisingly reduced their activity across all industries. Over the period from Nov. 24 to Dec. 5, the number of breaches from 2013 to 2014 dropped by more than 50 percent for this period.
