Target Corp. struggled to handle a surge of e-commerce traffic on Cyber Monday, its biggest day for online sales, making the website inaccessible to some users. Record-breaking big, according to Adobe.
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Heavy late-night shopping pushed cyber shopping figures past the $3 billion milestone.
“US consumers have turned into digital shopping ninjas this holiday season as retailers continue to adjust to a huge influx of smartphone shoppers”, said Adobe analyst Tamara Gaffney in a statement.
USA online sales grew 14 percent on Cyber Monday, on track to set a record, leading some retail websites, like Target Corp’s, to crash temporarily due to high customer traffic. Samsung Electronics Co Ltd’s 55-inch screen 4K TVs were among the items most often out of stock, as were some Sony PlayStation and Microsoft Xbox console bundles. The average shopper spent $135.25, up 4 percent from a year ago.
The National Retail Federation Survey stated that equal number of shoppers indulged in purchases in stores and online over the Thanksgiving weekend.
Smartphones have put the Internet in our pockets, meaning there’s less need to wait until Monday morning when people return to their office computers to scope out the digital deals.
Among many strong performers, Amazon.com Inc stood out, clocking a 21.1 percent rise in Cyber Monday sales, according to e-commerce software provider ChannelAdvisor. The mega-retailer offered 15% off every online order on Monday, along with 30% off select clothing, shoes and toys.
The big jump in online sales may have caught some retailers off guard. Amazon said it improved on last year’s Black Friday results when it reported sales of 500 items per second.
The two reports stressed the foothold that mobile platforms, such as smartphones and tablets, have had in recent years during the online shopping day. While over $2 billion in Cyber Monday spending occurred on desktop computers, according to ComScore, mobile accounted for 49% of shopping visits and 28% of sales. Online shopping stole the show on Black Friday, with high street stores seemingly deserted during the retail holiday.
The day had neither seen so much spending, nor so many glitches.
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“Many brands and retailers had their “mobile moment” in 2015, when more than 50 percent of their total web traffic came from mobile devices”, said Wingo.
