Thanksgiving and Black Friday Experience Record Mobile Sales

Yesterday we reported that tablets were the most popular CE device during the holiday weekend shopping surge and Apple’s iPad led the charge at retailers such as Target and Walmart. According to Adobe’s Digital Index 2013 report, new records were set for Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday. More than 24 percent of online sales occurred via smartphones and tablets, a year-over-year increase of 118 percent. In addition, iOS devices drove more than $543 million in online sales.

Apple’s iPad was responsible for 77 percent of the online sales. By comparison, Android devices took in $148 million in online sales, which Adobe notes is a 4.9 percent share of mobile online sales.

Among the key findings of the Adobe Digital Index:

  • Mobile: Retailers generated 24.2 percent of online sales via smartphones and tablets on Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday, a new record. 15.6 percent of mobile driven sales came from tablets, 8.6 percent from smartphones. iPads drove the vast majority of online sales with $417 million while iPhones were responsible for $126 million.
  • Social Media: Brands that generated strong social media traffic on Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday were Amazon, iPad, the National Football League, and Sony PlayStation 4. Amazon was the most referenced retailer with close to 450,000 posts. Walmart was a close second. With more than 300,000 mentions, PlayStation 4 drove close to three times more social media traffic on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, YouTube and other sites than Microsoft’s Xbox One.
  • “Brick-and-Click” vs. “Online-Only” Retailers: Traditional “brick-and-click” retailers were outselling their “online-only” competitors so far this year, at nearly a three-to-one ratio. Average basket sizes decreased by one percent to an average revenue per basket of $139. Category winners for Thanksgiving and Black Friday were toys, sporting goods, and jewelry with an increase in sales of 680 percent compared to an average sales day for these three category winners.

Although the numbers are not yet reported for yesterday’s shopping, comScore predicted that U.S. online sales would reach $2 billion on Cyber Monday for the first time. “A 20 percent increase is expected to come even after many consumers shopped earlier when retailers started offering their Cyber Monday deals on Sunday,” according to Reuters.

Related Stories:
Black Friday: Apple iPad a Big Winner at Target and Walmart, ETCentric, 12/2/13
Black Friday: Tablets Top Consumer Electronics Purchases, Survey Finds, The Hollywood Reporter, 12/1/13
On Black Friday, the Real Fight Was Online, The Wall Street Journal, 11/29/13
Mobile Drives Thanksgiving, Black Friday Shopping to New Records, CMO.com, 11/30/13

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