Lessons Retailers Can Take From the 2014 Holiday Shopping Season

Two outcomes are abundantly clear: online sales are robust, and mobile shopping is a growing force. Online shopping exceeded even relatively optimistic projections. comScore's combined November and December figures for purchases from desktop computers show a 15 percent increase year-over-year. IBM pegs total online sales at 13.9 percent higher than last year, including a 27.2 percent surge in mobile sales. In addition, Cyber Monday was the busiest day of the holiday season ($2 billion spent). The following day logged the second highest online shopping sales ($1.79 billion), and Dec. 8 came in third ($1.61 billion).