Almost Half of Black Friday Online Traffic came from Mobile

black friday happy shopperMobile traffic accounted for 46.7 per cent of all online traffic in the US on Black Friday, an increase of 24.2 per cent on last year, figures from IBM have revealed.

Black Friday saw online retailers increase sales by 8.5 per cent year-on-year, with mobile accounting for 26.1 per cent of all online sales, an increase of 24.7 per cent.

The divide between browsing and purchasing on smartphones and tablets continues, with smartphones driving double the online traffic that tablets did on Black Friday (33.6 per cent of total online traffic, compared to 12.8 per cent), but tablets accounting for 14.3 per cent of sales, versus smartphones 11.7 per cent.

eCommerces ascendance also means that many online retailers began their Christmas sales on Thanksgiving, with online sales up 14 per cent year-on-year on 27 November. Mobile accounted for 32.33 per cent of all online sales on Thanksgiving, and over half of all traffic.

Figures from Monetate showed that online retailers are getting more efficient, with conversion rates up 3.5 per cent on last year, and average revenue per session up 6 per cent from 2013.