Total online traffic on Thanksgiving Day rose 14.3% this year compared with 2013, but the average order value was about 2% less. Mobile traffic accounted for over half (52.1%) of all online traffic, up 22.4% year-over-year, and mobile sales accounted for almost a third (32.3%) of all online sales.
We wrote earlier today of the online sales results through 6:00 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day as reported by the Digital Analytics Benchmark group at International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM). Since then the average order value fell from $130.39 to $125.25. Tablet sales accounted for nearly a quarter of the final tally compared with about 20% in the earlier reading, and the final tally on sales generated by desktop PCs dropped from around 70% to 67.6%.
None of these changes is major, but the fact that the proportion of tablet sales grew after 6 p.m. is interesting. Perhaps people were sitting around the living room, doing a bit of shopping, while watching a movie or a football game on TV. That would not be unusual given other reports of people’s new viewing habits, yet it doesn’t describe the decline in ticket size.
And in the platform wars, Apple Inc.’s (NASDAQ: AAPL) iOS platform maintained its lead over Google Inc.’s (NASDAQ: GOOG) Android in its share of both traffic and sales, more than double and more than triple, respectively. iPhone users also spent nearly 25% more per ticket, $118.57 on average, compared with $95.25.
ALSO READ: U.S. Retailers Face Increased Holiday Hacking Threats
Top Gaining Stocks
Top Losing Stocks