Mobile Hits the Mark on Cyber Monday

Mobile device shopping accounted for more than a quarter of the $3 billion in sales over Cyber Monday. Cyber Monday was the biggest ever day for online sales in the US according to the Adobe Digital Index report. This was attributed to larger than expected discounts and to a demand for electronics and toys in particular.

There were 200 million visitors who visited 4,500 retail websites on Cyber Monday. Last year, mobile devices accounted for 19% of the total sales on Cyber Monday, and this year that number hit 26%.

What were the top selling items? Lego’s Star Wars collection, the Barbie Dream House, the Samsung 4K television set and Apple Inc.’s iPad Mini.

Interestingly, even though more people were shopping from their mobiles, they were spending less. On average, the smartphone shopper spent $102.02 on each order, which was below the $128 average spent by desktop users. Scot Wingo, executive chairman of ChannelAdvisor shared his frustration when he said, “The fact that we haven’t improved the mobile conversion rate is a little depressing to be honest.”

Which stores faired the best? Amazon.com Inc. had a 21.1% rise in Cyber Monday sales according to ChannelAdvisor. Discounts through Amazon averaged 40%.