Mobile and Online Leading Holiday Sales

Black Friday and Cyber Monday have been phenomenal from an economic standpoint.  I subscribed to some shopping alerts from IBM Marketing Solutions and as I got each report from last Wednesday forward, I was astounded at the retail figures coming out for this holiday season.

Here are the highlights:

• Consumers are clearly ready to spend online, totaling more than $1.25 billion in sales in a single day
• 2011 Cyber Monday sales grew 22 percent over 2010, when consumers spent $1.02 billion online.
• comScore reports that Americans spent $15 billion between November 1 and November 28 – a 15 percent increase over last year during the same time period.
• Black Friday digital spend exceeded $800 million, marking a 26 percent increase over online sales generated during this traditionally in-store shopping day last year.

So, we’re off to a great start!  Interestingly enough, the channel with the most growth in terms of making all of these purchases is the mobile channel.  More consumers than ever before are using mobile devices to make their holiday purchases.  As a matter of fact, according to the IBM alerts, mobile purchases grew dramatically — from 2.3% in 2010 to 6.6% in 2011.  Further, more consumers used mobile devices to visit retailers sites — 10.8% this year, up from only 3.9% in 2010.

Here’s hoping that this excellent start with retail sales will translate to a fast start for economic growth  in 2012.