Record Cyber Monday Sales Driven by Mobile
Based on Adobe Analytics data, a record $6.59 billion was spent online by the end of Cyber Monday, an increase of 16.8 percent year-over-year (YoY), making it the largest online shopping day in history and nearly a billion dollars more than last year at $5.6 billion. Mobile set a new record with its first $2 billion day. Smartphones have become the de facto device for mobile shopping (accounting for 37.6 percent of retail visits and 21.3 percent of revenue), while tablets continue to be used more as entertainment and gaming devices (accounting for 8.2 percent of retail visits and 9.1 percent of revenue). Here are some additional Cyber Monday results:
- average order value was slightly higher for Cyber Monday compared to last year at $133, up 0.1 percent YoY (Adobe);
- conversion rates on smartphones were at 3.5 percent, a 10.1 percent YoY increase; conversion rates on tablets grew to 6.4 percent, up 8.0 percent YoY; and conversion rates on desktop grew to 7.1 percent, up 7.6 percent YoY (Adobe);
- Apple, Staples, Home Depot, Kohl's and Zappos delivered web page load times of three seconds or less, while American Eagle, Banana Republic and Old Navy struggled, delivering web page load times greater than six seconds (Catchpoint); and
- discounts edged up a fraction of a percentage point to 29 percent on Cyber Monday this year, and free shipping also nudged higher, up to to 89 percent from 88 percent last year (Salesforce).
Total Retail's Take: The Cyber Monday behavior of consumers heading back to work after the holiday weekend and making purchases on their work computers is no longer the popular scenario. Shoppers are increasingly using their phones throughout the "shopping holiday" to browse deals and make purchases. This shift in behavior makes sense — consumers have their phones with them at all times (including at work), and retailers, for the most part, have made it just as easy to shop and purchase on a smartphone as it is on a desktop computer. Why risk getting in trouble by spending time shopping on your work computer when you can sneakily use your phone? And Cyber Monday shopping certainly isn't confined to the workplace; it's happening in homes and yes, even stores. Expect to see growing mobile sales for future Cyber Mondays.
