Black Friday Report 2012

Summary
US shoppers once again took advantage of early promotions this holiday season,
driving a 17.4 percent increase in online sales Thanksgiving Day.  This increase set the
stage for 20.7 percent growth on Black Friday.  The biggest surge came from mobile
consumers, with sales reaching 16.3 percent, led by the iPad. This data is the result of
cloud-based analytics findings from IBM.  
As part of IBM's Smarter Commerce initiative, the IBM Digital Analytics Benchmark
revealed the following trends as of 12:00 am PST:
• Consumer Spending Increases: Online sales on Thanksgiving grew by 17.4
percent followed by Black Friday where sales increased 20.7 percent over last
year.
• Mobile Shopping: Mobile purchases soared with 24 percent of consumers using
a mobile device to visit a retailer's site, up from 14.3 percent in 2011.  Mobile
sales exceeded 16 percent, up from 9.8 percent in 2011.  
• The iPad Factor: The iPad generated more traffic than any other tablet or smart
phone, reaching nearly 10 percent of online shopping. This was followed by
iPhone at 8.7 percent and Android 5.5 percent. The iPad dominated tablet traffic
at 88.3 percent followed by the Barnes and Noble Nook at 3.1 percent, Amazon
Kindle at 2.4 percent and the Samsung Galaxy at 1.8 percent.
• Multiscreen Shopping: Consumers shopped in store, online and on mobile
devices simultaneously to get the best bargains. Overall 58 percent of
consumers used smartphones compared to 41 percent who used tablets to surf
for bargains on Black Friday.
• The Savvy shopper: While consumers spent more overall, they shopped with
greater frequency to take advantage of retailer deals and free shipping.  This led
to a drop in average order value by 4.7 percent to $181.22.  In addition, the
average number of items per order decreased 12 percent to 5.6.  
• Social Media Sentiment Index: Shoppers expressed positive consumer
sentiment on promotions, shipping and convenience as well as the retailers
themselves at a three to one ratio.
• Social Sales: Shoppers referred from Social Networks such as Facebook,
Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube generated .34 percent of all online sales on Black
Friday, a decrease of more than 35 percent from 2011.

http://www-01.ibm.com/software/marketing-solutions/benchmark-reports/benchmark-2012-black-friday.pdf