Santa's Billion-Dollar Online Baby

E-tailers cheered by early strength in online holiday sales were not disappointed by the Christmas rush.

E-tailers cheered by early strength in online holiday sales were not disappointed by the Christmas rush.

As of December 25, U.S. online sales reached a record $35.3 billion for the season-to-date, according to comScore. That’s a 15 percent increase over the same period last year, with $2.8 billion spent in the week ending December 25, up 16 percent year-over-year.

Mobile continued its strong contribution to the bottom line. For example, on December 26, IBM Benchmark found that 16.4 percent of all retail site online sessions were initiated from a mobile device, up from 7.8 percent on that day in 2010. Sales from mobile devices grew to 11.3 percent, versus 4.3 percent on the same day in 2010.

The iPad led all mobile device traffic at 7 percent, followed by the iPhone at 6.4 percent and Android at 5 percent.

Increased tablet traffic could account for the dramatic increase in Christmas Day purchases of digital content and subscriptions. ComScore found that on an average day during this 2011 holiday season, from November 1 through December 26, digital content, including downloads of music, movies, TV, ebooks and apps, accounted for 2.8 percent of retail e-commerce sales. On Christmas Day, they made up more than 20 percent of sales. Look for digital content sales to remain high this week, comScore says.

Subscribe to get your daily business insights

Whitepapers

US Mobile Streaming Behavior
Whitepaper | Mobile

US Mobile Streaming Behavior

5y

US Mobile Streaming Behavior

Streaming has become a staple of US media-viewing habits. Streaming video, however, still comes with a variety of pesky frustrations that viewers are ...

View resource
Winning the Data Game: Digital Analytics Tactics for Media Groups
Whitepaper | Analyzing Customer Data

Winning the Data Game: Digital Analytics Tactics for Media Groups

5y

Winning the Data Game: Digital Analytics Tactics f...

Data is the lifeblood of so many companies today. You need more of it, all of which at higher quality, and all the meanwhile being compliant with data...

View resource
Learning to win the talent war: how digital marketing can develop its people
Whitepaper | Digital Marketing

Learning to win the talent war: how digital marketing can develop its peopl...

2y

Learning to win the talent war: how digital market...

This report documents the findings of a Fireside chat held by ClickZ in the first quarter of 2022. It provides expert insight on how companies can ret...

View resource
Engagement To Empowerment - Winning in Today's Experience Economy
Report | Digital Transformation

Engagement To Empowerment - Winning in Today's Experience Economy

1m

Engagement To Empowerment - Winning in Today's Exp...

Customers decide fast, influenced by only 2.5 touchpoints – globally! Make sure your brand shines in those critical moments. Read More...

View resource