Online Sales Surge 8.3% on Christmas Day

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By Douglas A. McIntyre Published
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IBM Digital Analytics tracks nationwide retail sales throughout the holidays, and its survey indicates online sales rose 8.3% on Christmas Day. While that seems like a surge, it might be a disappointment to retailers who assumed e-commerce would help salvage poor brick-and-mortar sales.

The survey showed:

Christmas Day saw strong mobile sales. Here are the key Christmas Day trends reported by the IBM Digital Analytics Benchmark:

— Online sales were up 8.3 percent over the same period on Christmas Day 2013

— Mobile traffic accounted for 57.1 percent of all online traffic on Christmas Day, an increase of 18.6 percent YoY

— Mobile sales accounted for 34.8 percent of all online sales on Christmas Day, an increase of 20.4 percent YoY

The search for bargains probably hurt top lines as well:

Consumers Cash-In on Online Bargains: Average order value was $100.33 up 6.2 percent over 2013. Shoppers also purchased an average of 3.5 items per order, down 1.4 percent. This trend may indicate that shoppers are becoming more comfortable and digitally savvy in how they use online coupons and rebates to secure the best bargains.

While the trend to use tablets and smartphones may be surging, IBM points out that desktop sales are still robust. As a matter of fact, use of desktops is a blessing:

The Desktop is Not Dead: Even as mobile shopping continues to grow, many consumers chose a more traditional online experience. Desktop PC traffic represented 42.6 percent of all online traffic, and 65.2 percent of all online sales. Further, consumers spent more money on their desktops with an average order value of $107.72 compared to their mobile devices at $88.70 a difference of 21.4 percent.

Finally, Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) fans have something to worry about:

Facebook vs. Pinterest: As marketers continue to rely on social channels to drive brand loyalty and sales, IBM analyzed trends across two leading sites, Facebook and Pinterest. Facebook referrals drove an average of $89.80 per order, while Pinterest referrals averaged $99.86 per order.

Some pieces of coal in the e-commerce stocking.

ALSO READ: Sears Dumps E-Commerce Chief

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About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.

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