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IBM report says Cyber Monday revenue up 8.5 percent over last year

From Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday, overall online sales increased 12.6 percent, with mobile sales up 27.2 percent compared to the same period in 2013.

December 2, 2014

IBM has announced strong online and mobile sales for Cyber Monday 2014, capping a record five-day span for holiday shopping, based on consumer transaction data analyzed in real-time by the IBM Digital Analytics Benchmark. The data-driven insight gives retailers and marketers more than 370 performance indicators to benchmark themselves against industry peers to drive more targeted customer engagements.

Heading back to work, consumers clicked their way to the best deals on Cyber Monday — which remained the busiest online shopping day of the holiday season, according to the report. Online sales grew 8.5 percent compared to 2013, with mobile sales up 27.6 percent year-over-year. New York City also continued its run as the top U.S. city for online shopping, retaining the top spot on both Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

IBM reported strong growth on Thanksgiving and Black Friday, culminating with a record five-day "Cyber Week" period for online shopping. From Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday, overall online sales increased 12.6 percent, with mobile sales up 27.2 percent compared to the same period in 2013. IOS devices continued to lead in mobile shopping with traffic more than twice, and sales nearly four times, that of Android devices during Cyber Week.

"For the first time mobile devices drove more than half of Thanksgiving online traffic, a trend that continued throughout Cyber Week," said Jay Henderson, director, IBM Smarter Commerce. "As the holiday shopping season becomes less concentrated on a single day, retailers and marketers took advantage by making it easier for consumers to find the best deals on the go, whenever and wherever they chose to shop."

Other findings from the report:

• The Monday after Thanksgiving remained the busiest day for online shopping over the five-day period. Cyber Monday online sales grew by 8.5 percent over 2013. Average order value was $124.21, down 3.5 percent year-over-year.
• Cyber Monday mobile traffic accounted for 41.2 percent of all online traffic, up 30.1 percent over 2013. Mobile sales were also strong, reaching 22 percent of total Cyber Monday online sales, an increase of 27.6 percent year-over-year.
• New York City again claimed the top spot for Cyber Monday sales, followed by Washington, D.C.; Atlanta; Los Angeles; and Chicago. On average, New York City shoppers spent $112.44 per order on Cyber Monday.
• As the new digital shopping companion for many consumers, smartphones drove 28.5 percent of all Cyber Monday online traffic, more than double that of tablets, which accounted for 12.5 percent of all traffic. Yet, when it comes to mobile sales, tablets continue to win the shopping war — driving 12.9 percent of online sales compared to 9.1 percent for smartphones, a difference of 41.5 percent. Tablet users also averaged $121.49 per order compared to $99.61 for smartphone users, a difference of 22 percent.