Online sales the weekend before Thanksgiving increased 12.1% compared with the same period in 2014, according to data from IBM released Monday. Meanwhile, ChannelAdvisor reported that its clients’ sales on Amazon.com, which often track broader e-commerce growth, rose 13.9% for the week ended Saturday.
According to the IBM data, collected from its e-retailer clients, consumers also spent more per order Saturday and Sunday than they did on the comparable pre-Thanksgiving weekend last year, with an average order value of $123.73, a 9.6% increase from 2014. The biggest jump in average order value was on mobile devices, which posted a 10.5% increase over last year, to $116.41. But desktop still owns the highest average order value at $128.23.
Mobile sales jumped 35% compared to the same weekend last year, with 35.9% of all online sales occurring on mobile devices, according to IBM data. Mobile traffic also surged, accounting for 56.9% of all online traffic the weekend before Thanksgiving, up 16.6% from last year. IBM did not provide dollar figures for Saturday and Sunday, just the percent increase.
ChannelAdvisor noted a significant uptick in conversion rates on computers and tablets for the week of Nov. 15-21, but not on mobile phones.
The conversion rate on mobile phones barely moved, to 1.4% from 1.3% during the week, reported ChannelAdvisor, which assists merchants selling on such web marketplaces as Amazon and eBay as well as through other online channels.
But consumers shopping on desktops and tablets got into the holiday shopping spirit last week. The desktop conversion rate for Nov. 15-21 increased to 4.2% from 3.8% the week before, while on tablets it nudged higher to 2.6% from 2.3%, according to ChannelAdvisor data released Monday.
Sales for merchants that sell on Amazon’s marketplace slightly accelerated last week to 13.9% from 13.6% the week before (Nov. 8-14), ChannelAdvisor says. The marketing firm notes that its clients’ growth rates on Amazon.com often mirror the overall growth in online retail sales. ChannelAdvisor reports the same-store sales of merchant clients that have been selling on the Amazon marketplace for at least a year.
At eBay, same-store sales of ChannelAdvisor retailer clients declined 1.1% Nov. 15-21 after growing just 0.4% the week before. The biggest growth was on other web marketplaces, such as those operated by Rakuten, Walmart.com and Newegg.com. Those sales grew 52.5% in the third week of this month following a 38% jump in same-store sales during the second week, ChannelAdvisor found. On Google Shopping, same-store sales grew 25.9%, but that rate was down slightly from the week before when growth was 27.8%.
ChannelAdvisor produces monthly reports that compare its merchant clients’ sales through online shopping portals and marketing channels, and during November is doing so on a weekly basis.