Cyber Monday Online Spending Increases by 33 percent Over 2010, Reports IBM

Mobile Devices Including the iPhone and iPad Drive 6.6 Percent of Online
Sales

Armonk, NY. November 29, 2011 –The U.S. online retail sector delivered
strong growth on Cyber Monday 2011 compared to the same period last year,
according to cloud-based analytics findings by IBM (NYSE: IBM). IBM’s
findings expand on the company’s earlier report that Thanksgiving Day 2011
saw a record number of online retail sales that set the stage for a strong
Black Friday.

As part of IBM’s Smarter Commerce initiative, IBM's online retail benchmark
study reveals the following trends as of 12:00 am PST:

Cyber Monday 2011 Compared to Cyber Monday 2010 (year/year)
• Consumer Spending Increases: Online sales were up 33.0 percent over 2010,
with consumers pushing the average order value up from $193.24 to $198.26
for an increase of 2.6 percent.
• Shopping Peaks at 11:05am PST/2:05pm EST: Consumers flocked online, with
shopping momentum hitting its highest peak at 11:05am PST/2:05pm EST.
Consumer shopping also maintained strong momentum after commuting hours on
both the east and west coast.
• Mobile Sales and Traffic Grows: On Cyber Monday, 10.8 percent of people
used a mobile device to visit a retailer's site, up from 3.9 percent in
2010. Additionally, mobile sales grew dramatically, reaching 6.6 percent on
Cyber Monday versus 2.3 percent in 2010.

Cyber Monday 2011 Compared to Black Friday 2011
• Consumer Spending Increases: Online sales were up 29.3 percent over Black
Friday.
• The Mobile Bargain Hunter: On Cyber Monday mobile traffic averaged 10.8
percent compared to 14.3 percent on Black Friday.
• Mobile Sales: Consumer sales on mobile devices reached 6.6 percent versus
9.8 percent on Black Friday.
• The Apple Shopper: Apple’s iPhone and iPad continued to rank one and two
for mobile device retail traffic (4.1 percent and 3.3 percent respectively).
Android maintained its position in third at 3.2 percent. Collectively iPhone
and iPad accounted for 7.4 percent of all online retail traffic versus 10.2
percent on Black Friday.
• The iPad Factor: Shoppers using the iPad also continued to drive more
retail purchases than any other device with conversion rates reaching 5.2
percent compared to 4.6 percent.
• The Social Influence: Shoppers referred from Social Networks generated
0.56 percent of all online sales on Cyber Monday versus 0.53 percent on
Black Friday. Similar to Black Friday, Facebook led the pack, accounting for
86 percent of all social media traffic.
• Social Media Chatter: Discussions on social media sites leading up to
Cyber Monday increased in volume by 115 percent compared to 2010. Top areas
of discussion focused on consumers sharing tips about using price comparison
websites while avoiding cyber scams, Cyber Monday deals for international
consumers and conversations about Black Friday in-store shopping
experiences.

“Cyber Monday was once again the big winner for the Thanksgiving holiday
shopping season, with a record number of consumers focused on finding the
best online deals,” said John Squire, Chief Strategy Officer, IBM Smarter
Commerce. “Retailers that adopted a smarter approach to commerce, one that
allowed them to swiftly adjust to the shifting shopping habits of their
customers, whether in-store, online or via their mobile device, were able to
fully benefit from this day and the entire holiday weekend.”

Today's news is based on findings from IBM’s fourth annual Cyber Monday
Benchmark which tracks more than a million transactions a day, analyzing
terabytes of raw data from 500 retailers nationwide. With this data, IBM
helps retailers better understand and respond to their customers – across
the organization – improving sourcing, inventory management, marketing,
sales, and services programs.

About IBM Smarter Commerce

IBM's Smarter Commerce initiative delivers software and services to help
companies transform their business processes to more quickly respond to
shifting customer demands in today's digitally transformed marketplace.  The
initiative is driven by the demands from organizations who are increasingly
looking for ways to bring new levels of automation to marketing, sales and
fulfillment to secure greater customer loyalty. The growth of mobile, social
and online commerce are key trends within Smarter Commerce.

More information on Smarter Commerce can be found at
www.ibm.com/smarterplanet/us/en/smarter_commerce/overview/

Source
These early holiday season findings are based on data from IBM Benchmark,
the only analytics-based, peer-level benchmarking solution that measures
online marketing results, including real-time sales data from the web sites
of more than 500 leading U.S. retailers. All of the data is aggregated and
anonymous.  Analysis of public social media content using IBM Cognos
Consumer Insight also provided additional insight into underlying holiday
shopping trends, hot topics of discussion, and consumer sentiment.
To join the conversation, follow hashtags #smartercommerce, #ibmretail and
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