PLANNING AND LEADERSHIP FOR A BETTER WORLD
PLANNING AND LEADERSHIP FOR A BETTER WORLD Record online Thanksgiving Day shopping paved the way for strong Black Friday retail sales, according to an IBM analysis of consumer spending trends over the long holiday weekend.
U.S. shoppers took advantage of early sales this holiday, which drove a 39.3 percent increase in online Thanksgiving Day spending while setting the stage for 24.3 percent online growth on Black Friday, compared with the same period last year, according to IBM.
This huge increase in Thursday spending represents a significant shift in shopping patterns. “This year marked Thanksgiving’s emergence as the first big spending day of the 2011 holiday season with a record number of consumers shifting their focus from turkey to tablets and the search for the best deals,” said John Squire, chief strategy officer, IBM Smarter Commerce. “This momentum continued into Black Friday, where the big winners were those retailers that delivered a smarter commerce experience with compelling, relevant deals that people could easily access from their channel of choice.”
Retailers got a boost from Thanksgiving Day's online sales, many of which were made by shoppers using tablets.
These early holiday season findings are based on data from the IBM Coremetrics Benchmark, which is an analytics-based, peer-level benchmarking solution that measures online marketing results, including real-time sales data from the Websites of more than 500 leading U.S. retailers. All the data is aggregated and anonymous. Analysis of public social media content using IBM Cognos Consumer Insight also provided additional insight into underlying holiday shopping trends, hot topics of discussion and consumer sentiment.
Notable trends from the benchmark study include the following:
The Mobile Bargain Hunter: Black Friday witnessed the arrival of mobile deal seekers who embraced their devices as a research tool for in-store and online bargains. Mobile traffic increased to 14.3 percent on Black Friday 2011, compared with 5.6 percent in 2010.
Mobile Sales: Sales on mobile devices surged to 9.8 percent from 3.2 percent, year-over-year.
The Apple Shopper: Mobile shopping was led by Apple, with the iPhone and iPad ranking first and second for consumers shopping on mobile devices (5.4 percent and 4.8 percent, respectively). Android came in third at 4.1 percent. Collectively, iPhone and iPad accounted for 10.2 percent of all online retail traffic on Black Friday.
The iPad Factor: Shoppers using the iPad led to more retail purchases more often per visit than other mobile devices with conversion rates reaching 4.6 percent, compared with 2.8 percent for overall mobile devices.
Surgical Shopping Goes Mobile: Mobile shoppers demonstrated a laser focus that surpassed that of other online shoppers, with a 41.3 percent bounce rate on mobile devices, versus online shopping rates of 33.1 percent.
The Social Influence: Shoppers referred from social networks generated 0.53 percent of all online sales on Black Friday. Facebook led the pack, accounting for 75 percent of all traffic from social networks.
Social Media Chatter: Boosted by a 110 percent increase in discussion volume compared with 2010, top discussion topics on social media sites immediately before Friday showed a focus on the part of consumers to share tips on how to avoid the rush. Topics included out-of-stock concerns, waiting times and parking, and a spike in positive sentiment around Cyber Monday sales.
The study also found that sales by type of retailer were higher across the board, compared with last year. In particular, online department store sales were up 59 percent from last year. Other online segments, including home goods, apparel, and health and beauty, recorded increases of 48.8 percent, 47.2 percent, and 34.2 percent, respectively, over last year's levels.
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