IBM: Mobile shopping doubles over holiday

ARMONK, N.Y. — On Tuesday, IBM released its final benchmark announcement for the 2011 holiday season, detailing a continued strong performance for mobile, as well as an overall increase in online spending for December 2011.

According to the report, the U.S. online retail sector delivered 7.5% growth in December 2011, compared with the same period last year. This followed a strong November where both Black Friday 2011 and Cyber Monday 2011 delivered double-digit growth over 2010.

Other key findings of the IBM report included:

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  Mobile traffic experienced significant growth, as 14.6% of all online sessions on a retailer’s site were initiated from a mobile device, more than double the rate of 5.6% over this same period in 2010;

  
  


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  Sales from mobile devices doubled, reaching 11% versus 5.5% in December 2010;

  
  


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  Apple’s iPhone and iPad ranked No. 1 and No. 2 for mobile device retail traffic (5.2% and 4.3% respectively). Android was third at 4.1%; and

  
  


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  Shoppers using the iPad also continued to drive more retail purchases than any other device with conversion rates reaching 6.3% compared witho 3.1% for all mobile devices.

  
  

"This past December consumers remained committed to finding the best online deals whether through their PC or mobile device,” said John Squire, chief strategy officer for IBM Smarter Commerce.