• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, December 26, 2013

What did Santa bring online retailers, this Christmas? They must have been good, as the day delivered a 16.5% boost in sales, year-over-year.
 
That’s according to the latest IBM Digital Analytics Benchmark data, which saw mobile traffic reach its highest levels this season. Overall, mobile accounted for 48% of all online traffic, which represented a 28.3% increase compared to the same period last year.
 
Mobile sales also remained strong, as they approached 29% of all online sales -- up 40% over 2012. Smartphones drove 28.5% of all online traffic compared to tablets, which were responsible for 18.1% of traffic. As such, IBM calls tablets, “the browsing device of choice.”  
 
When it came to making the sale, tablets drove 19.4% of all online sales -- more than twice that of smartphones, which accounted for 9.3% of sale. Tablet users also averaged $95.61 per order, versus smartphone users, who averaged $85.11 per order.

Also of note, as a percentage of total online sales, Appl’e iOS operating system was more than five times higher than Android, driving 23% vs. 4.6% for Android. On average, iOS users spent $93.94 per order -- nearly twice that of Android users, who spent $48.10 per order.  iOS also led as a component of overall traffic with 32.6% compared to 14.8% for Android.

As for social networks, shoppers referred from Facebook averaged $72.01 per order, versus Pinterest referrals, which drove $86.83 per order. However, Facebook referrals converted sales at nearly four times the rate of Pinterest referrals, perhaps indicating stronger confidence in network recommendations.

The data is based on the cloud-based IBM Digital Analytics Benchmark, a real-time digital analytics platform, which tracks millions of transactions, and raw data from approximately 800 retail sites nationwide.