E-Commerce sites were busy pushing Black Friday sales in the weeks leading up to the busy shopping day and according to IBM's Benchmark Report, it all paid off. Online sales were up close to 20% in 2013 over the same period last year. The average sale was up 2.2% from last year with an order value at $135.27.
Mobile shopping continues to grow with up to 39.7% of all online traffic being from mobile phones and tablets. That is up 34% from Black Friday last year. But it wasn't all about browsing, mobile sales accounted for 21.8% of total online sales, an increase of nearly 43% year over year. Retailers engaged shoppers on their smart phones by sending 37% more push notifications during the two day period over Thanksgiving and Black Friday when compared to daily averages over the past two months. Retail app installations also grew by 23% using the same comparison.
Social media sites played a big factor in referred traffic which Pinterest shoppers spending 77% more than shoppers referred from Facebook. The average purchase amount from Pinterest was $92.51 while Facebook was $52.30. However, Facebook referrals converted sales at nearly four times the rate of Pinterest.
With 66.1 million Americans visiting online retailers on Black Friday it is important for all online retailers to stay up to date with their online marketing, sites usability and overall features.
Now that we know the stats, what are the take-a-ways?
E-COMMERCE SITES MUST BE MOBILE READY.
As more and more shoppers turn to browsing and buying online using their tablets or smart phones, it makes sense for e-commerce sites to have their site be tailored to all devices.
PINTEREST IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN YOU THINK.
The virtual scrapbooking site is no longer just a place to find recipes for dinner or DIY projects. Online businesses can benefit from this site by creating beautiful photography of their products to make them more "pinteresting" to their clients. Pinterest recently released its first public API to developers which will allow third-party sites to embed Pinterest pins, and make it easier to post content into Pinterest itself.
As we move in to the New Year we will continue seeing higher conversions on mobile sites and tablets while social sites will be referring more shoppers to our sites. In 2014 it will be important for all e-commerce sites to invest time into building out their social media presence without ignoring any network. Those businesses that do not invest the time into building their social community will be left behind.