Record mobile device usage during Thanksgiving weekend
	Gareth Sales Thursday, November 29, 2012

Hi everyone,

According to data from IBM, 24% of shoppers visited a retailer’s site using a mobile device over Thanksgiving and Black Friday, up from 14.3% last year.

IBM also found that 58% used smartphones whilst in brick and mortar stores to shop for bargains on Black Friday compared with 41% who used tablets.

Overall, mobile sales increased significantly, accounting for 16% of online sales, up from 9.8% last year.

Branding Brand reported that whilst it appears that smartphones were the biggest drivers of online traffic (with 20% of the total), tablets were the biggest drivers of revenue (with 14%of the total).

"Tablet users consistently spent more per order than smartphone and desktop users,” said Chris Mason, CEO of Branding Brand, Pittsburgh, PA. "On Thanksgiving, the average order value of a tablet user was two percent higher than desktop users, on Black Friday it was nine percent higher.

Tablet users viewed on average, two more pages per visit than smartphone users and converted at rate three and a half time higher than smartphone users, according to Branding Brand.

Some retailers may have been caught off guard by the strength of tablet commerce over the holiday weekend. A recent report from Skava found that just 7% of the top 100 U.S. online retailers have a tablet-optimized Web site while 95% are optimized for smartphones.

 "Mobile is no longer a sliver of your audience,” Branding Brand’s Mr. Mason said. "It is quickly becoming the main point of interaction.

"Retailers should enter 2013 with a mobile-first strategy for their e-commerce presence,” he said.

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Happy Selling!

Gareth