While many shoppers headed to the Web for Black Friday shopping this year – more than in any year previously – Cyber Monday continued the growth trend with more clicks and better deals online.
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A report from Adobe Systems, Inc. has found that 2015 saw a new record high for sales on Cyber Monday, America’s annual online sales event.
Smartphones were the preferred method of online purchases on Cyber Monday, according to IBM, driving 15 percent of Internet sales, up about 70 percent from past year.
The National Retail Federation estimates overall sales for November and December will rise 3.7 percent to $630.5 billion compared with previous year.
Research firm comScore said shopping by phone, laptop or tablet jumped 21 percent to $3.11 billion Monday, fueled by a 53 percent surge in spending via mobile devices.
ComScore chairman, Gian Fulgoni, said: “Cyber Monday maintained its reputation as the most important online spending day of year, exceeding $3bn in total digital spending and once again becoming the heaviest online spending day of all-time”.
The report showed that Amazon came out on top as the leading retailer for Cyber Monday traffic however retailers such Walmart and Target also had very strong showings. But the rise of smartphones and speedier home Internet service has led consumers to snag online deals throughout the holiday weekend.
Site blackouts and moderate checkouts amid the five-day shopping spree that began on Thanksgiving were accounted for at extravagance retailer Neiman Marcus, Wal-Mart Stores Inc, L Brands Inc’s Victoria Secret and Foot Locker Inc. Retailers – traditional and electronic – are now offering bargains earlier than ever. “Interestingly, as dramatically as mobile usage increased over the weekend, it then decreased on Cyber Monday”. But the value of merchandise was higher for purchases made on desktops, with the average order hitting $128, followed by tablets at $124.14 and smartphone buys averaging $102.02 per order, according to IBM.
Top-selling items included Lego’s Star Wars collection, the Barbie Dream House, Samsung 4K television sets and Apple Inc’s iPad mini. Star Wars toys were among the items most frequently out of stock, Adobe said in a report sent to Reuters on Tuesday.
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Information for this article was contributed by Spencer Soper of Bloomberg News.
