Here's some surprising news from the just-released IBM Digital Analytics Benchmark "Black Friday Report 2012." While Black Friday retail sales were up 21% overall compared to last year, sales referred from social networks were down 35% from last year. And Twitter accounted for none of those sales. See the chart below.
Other interesting items in the report:
- 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 generated more traffic than any other tablet or smart phone, reaching nearly 10 percent of online shopping.
- Consumers spent more overall, and 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.
- Sales growth was led by several industries, including Department Stores, Health and Beauty, and Apparel, with the leader being Home Goods, reporting a 28.2 percent increase in sales from Black Friday 2011.
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(Thanks to Business Insider for the tip.)
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