Over 20% of Online Black Friday Sales Came From Mobile Devices

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Over 20% of Online Black Friday Sales Came From Mobile Devices

Posted by samzenpus on Monday December 2, 2013 @06:38AM from the palm-of-your-hand dept.

cagraham writes "According to IBM's latest Data Benchmark report, 21.8% of all online Black Friday sales were made from mobile devices. Mobile traffic, meanwhile, accounted for 39.7% of all Black Friday traffic. Interestingly, iOS users accounted for 18.1% of online sales, while Android users accounted for just 3.5%. The data come from IBM's real-time monitoring over 800 U.S. online retailers. The report also notes that tablets generated less traffic than smartphones, but accounted for almost twice the number of sales. Overall, online sales for Black Friday grew 18.9% year-over-year."

31 of 201 comments (clear)

Min score:

Reason:

Sort:

Get offa my lawn! by Impy+the+Impiuos+Imp · 2013-12-02 06:44 · Score: 5, Funny

I would never buy Christmas gifts over smartphone surfing. I guess I'm just old school and like the hustle and bustle of leisurely picking through products and buying at my nice, large computer screen.

--
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
1. Re:Get offa my lawn! by Daetrin · 2013-12-02 07:20 · Score: 2
  
  I learned about a number of Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales through my Android phone. And in each case i then went and looked it up again on my PC for review before deciding whether or not to make a purchase.
  
  --
  This Space Intentionally Left Blank
2. Re:Get offa my lawn! by Hadlock · 2013-12-02 08:52 · Score: 2
  
  If Aunt Jennie sends you a link to what Cousin Frankie needs, just find it on Amazon (or whatever specialty retailer carries it) and have it shipped, already giftwrapped, straight to Frankie's door. No need to roll out of bed that day. Leave the stop light for chumps.
  
  --
  moox. for a new generation.
Probably not accurate by synapse7 · 2013-12-02 06:45 · Score: 5, Insightful

Some of my android based tablets and phone are using browsers with a user agent that reports as an ipad, seems to help get an html5 website.
1. Re:Probably not accurate by 605dave · 2013-12-02 06:55 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  Yes, I'm sure that's a huge percentage of the traffic.
  
  --
  Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a difficult battle. - Plato
2. Re:Probably not accurate by vux984 · 2013-12-02 07:35 · Score: 2
  
  Some of my android based tablets and phone are using browsers with a user agent that reports as an ipad
  Can you clarify if that was something you set up yourself, or whether they are coming like that from the developer?
3. Re:Probably not accurate by fermion · 2013-12-02 08:42 · Score: 2
  
  This can be an issue. Back in the day we all set user agents to report as IE on MS Windows to trick websites into working. I don't know if something was baked into ISS that made it bork on non-MS web browsers, but it did create a situation where the number on user browsing on IE was inflated. Usually worked fine one the server was tricked. Now, of course, sites like /. have truly awful mobile versions and there is little way to get out of it.
  
  --
  "She's a scientist and a lesbian. She's not going to let it slide." Orphan Black
Cyber Monday? by michaelmalak · 2013-12-02 06:47 · Score: 2

Makes me wonder how much longer the term "Cyber Monday" will be relevant if we're all continuously plugged into Amazon anyway and don't need to be at a desktop/laptop.
So you're saying by msobkow · 2013-12-02 06:47 · Score: 3, Informative

So you're saying iOS users are suckers with too much money to burn. :P

--
I do not fail; I succeed at finding out what does not work.
1. Re:So you're saying by BasilBrush · 2013-12-02 06:59 · Score: 2
  
  There's such a thing as too much?
2. Re:So you're saying by east+coast · 2013-12-02 07:04 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  Given the response to this article so far? I'd say that this is proof that Slashdotters are willing to argue over what technology is better than to just accept that people use different technology and move on with their own lives.
  
  Slashdot thanks for taking the flamebait... that's their bread and butter.
  
  --
  Dedicated Cthulhu Cultist since 4523 BC.
3. Re: So you're saying by Scowler · 2013-12-02 07:31 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  iPhones aren't significantly different in price from top-end Android phones from Samsung, HTC, etc. I know the Nexus phones are always quoted as proof that iPhones are over-priced, but the Nexus phones are an anomaly when compared to other similar Android phones as well.
4. Re:So you're saying by east+coast · 2013-12-02 07:48 · Score: 2
  
  iOS devices are more expensive to begin with.
  
  Really? The last time I looked at Verizon's site both the high end HTC and Samsung models were going for the same as an iPhone 5s with contract. I could see your point if it was without contract even though the Samsung was only 50 dollars cheaper but let's be honest, the vast majority of smartphone users on Verizon are under a contract.
  
  Even with all that included I guess by your metric if someone is driving a car that isn't a Nissan Versa they're just suckers getting gouged, eh? What do you drive? What kind of computer you got on the desk in front of you? I bet you overpaid for that too. We could go round all day on this but the truth of the matter is that most people spend more money taking the family to the movies than the price difference of a new iPhone versus a comparable Android without a contract.
  
  --
  Dedicated Cthulhu Cultist since 4523 BC.
5. Re:So you're saying by timmyf2371 · 2013-12-02 08:51 · Score: 2
  
  My Sony Z1 cost £30 more than my iPhone 5 did the previous year (both bought unsubsidised). Even accounting for inflation, it still works out more in real terms.
  Based on this true anecdote, let's reverse your statement and see how ridiculous it sounds.
  
  *sigh* Android devices are more expensive to begin with. Android users obviously have more money to spend than brains. It has nothing to do with the quality of the device, and everything to do with being willing to be gouged.
  
  --
  
  Backup not found: (A)bort (R)etry (P)anic
What does this mean? by Anonymous Coward · 2013-12-02 06:52 · Score: 3, Funny

Please, Slashdot, help me understand this random factoid and how it can be twisted to various predetermined narratives. Are Android users to poor to shop? No, wait, is it that Apple users are caught up with continuous shopping to flee from the ever-fading glow of material gratification? Is the latest iPhone made with parts that outgas consumption-inducing pthalates? Help me; I must know how these isolated data confirm what we all already know.
Re:disparate by Anonymous Coward · 2013-12-02 06:53 · Score: 2, Insightful

Sounds like to me that most Android users are simply too smart to shop on a tiny phone screen when they can shop on a large computer monitor.
Re:That's the real data folks by Anonymous Coward · 2013-12-02 06:56 · Score: 2, Insightful

Maybe not everyone wants an OS which expects and encourages buying more useless crap. This is a win for Android IMO.
IBM knows this how? by sl4shd0rk · 2013-12-02 07:00 · Score: 2

IBM calls it "cloudbased analytics" in it's report but I find it a bit creepy that IBM has data from "800 US retail websites". I suppose just counting request headers on a reverse proxy could do it, but having data from Pinterest and Facebook, as well as how many push notifications retailers sent, seems beyond simple methods.

--
Join the Slashcott! Feb 10 thru Feb 17!
Re:disparate by CanHasDIY · 2013-12-02 07:03 · Score: 2, Insightful

the mobile apps are formatted for the small screen negating any advantage of a computer.
Until you get to the ordering screen, which they didn't take the time to create a mobile version of, and you can't fill out the entire form because the goddamn keyboard keeps popping up and covering the last few entries!
The Nexus 7 works pretty well (Humble Bundle's site takes a huge shit on it, otherwise I haven't had a problem), but I've all but given up trying to order stuff with my smartphone.

--
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
CC in a phone? by DogDude · 2013-12-02 07:06 · Score: 2

I never understood why people think it's a good idea to enter (or even worse, store) credit card info in a phone. That's the height of stupidity, in my opinion.

--
I don't respond to AC's.
1. Re:CC in a phone? by clonehappy · 2013-12-02 07:14 · Score: 2
  
  Storing, absolutely. But why is it any less secure to enter the info into the browser of a phone than any other web browser in existence? You know, the people who have the technology to sniff an LTE or HSPA data connection are either not interested in something as mundane as your credit card number and/or they already have it.
2. Re:CC in a phone? by Junta · 2013-12-02 08:32 · Score: 2
  
  You mean that data that is stamped onto a plastic card in the clear in the wallet that is probably right next to said cell phone if someone robs you? The little card that people hand over freely to low paid waitstaff at a restaurant who might disappear for 5-6 minutes with your card out of sight? The card that is inserted into dozens of public card readers that might have a skimmer on them over the course of a week? Face it, the entire state of CC numbers is insanity from a security perspective (a single 'secret' that must be shared with everyone who you want to pay that is as able to authenticate the transaction you provided it for as it is able to authenticate any transaction to anyone.).
  Maybe you mean to say a phone is a prime target for phishing and/or malware, but I would fail to see how that situation would differ from a run of the mill desktop pc.
  
  --
  XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.
Re:disparate by BasilBrush · 2013-12-02 07:08 · Score: 2, Insightful

Until you get to the ordering screen, which they didn't take the time to create a mobile version of, and you can't fill out the entire form because the goddamn keyboard keeps popping up and covering the last few entries!
The Nexus 7 works pretty well (Humble Bundle's site takes a huge shit on it, otherwise I haven't had a problem), but I've all but given up trying to order stuff with my smartphone.
Given this report, iOS users don't seem to have a problem.
Re:riots by CanHasDIY · 2013-12-02 07:09 · Score: 2

And in other news, rioting at stores decreased by 21%.
Which is a real bummer for me - my favorite part of Black Friday is Red Saturday, when I sit around watching videos and news reports of all the fights that broke out over Tickle-Me-Elmo, or whatever the duke-it-out toy is this year.
Damn iPhone, ruining my schadenfreude....

--
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
Re:disparate by bob_super · 2013-12-02 07:17 · Score: 2

Someone has some hype to fuel...
Tablets can have higher resolution than PC monitors, and be connected to the big-screen TV in the living room.
Are Android and ios really a good indication of "mobile"?
How much of this shopping actually came over 3/4G connections?
Re:disparate by BasilBrush · 2013-12-02 07:31 · Score: 2, Interesting

Or the more obvious explanation that the iOS keyboard popping up doesn't ever cover up form fields on a web-site. The current one is automatically scrolled into view, and any other part of the web-page can be scrolled into view by the user if needs be. Nothing is out of bounds because it's behind the keyboard.
Re:disparate by CanHasDIY · 2013-12-02 07:42 · Score: 2

Or the more obvious explanation that the iOS keyboard popping up doesn't ever cover up form fields on a web-site.
That in no way explains how a device owned by about 30% of smartphone users was seen as being responsible for over 80% of online sales.
It especially does not offer any better explanation than "Android devices using iOS user agents."
Quite the opposite, really.

--
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
Re:disparate by paiute · 2013-12-02 07:56 · Score: 4, Insightful

It especially does not offer any better explanation than "Android devices using iOS user agents."
Quite the opposite, really.
I'd like to know what percentage of Android users who are not Slashdot users even know that you can do this.

--
If Slashdot were chemistry it would look like this:Cadaverine
Price Checking by ninjabus · 2013-12-02 08:46 · Score: 4, Insightful

People were price checking purchases using their phones, not actually looking to buy online. If someone is shopping on a tablet, they really mean to buy something with it.
Re:disparate by zieroh · 2013-12-02 08:49 · Score: 2

You appear to be grasping at straws. I suspect this is an attempt by your brain to cope with the cognitive dissonance you are currently experiencing. Why else would you attempt to explain away the facts by ranting about "alternate user agents", a factor which surely represents -- at best -- a rounding error in the data.
Seriously. Give it up. You're not convincing anyone except yourself.

--
People who say "sheeple" have about as much sophistication as an AOL user, and in fact are probably actually AOL users.
Re:disparate by AlphaWolf_HK · 2013-12-02 09:08 · Score: 2

It does tell you that iOS users are more readily willing to part with their cash, whereas Android users are more thrifty.
As an Android user, that describes me pretty accurately. I don't ever brag about myself except when it comes to finances: I have a very low income yet I have an 850 credit rating and own some very nice things. I buy salvaged title cars that work really well (to me new cars are a total ripoff,) I subscribe to t-mobile and the service is great, and on these same tokens Android makes a lot more fiscal sense: There's really nothing at all I'd gain from switching to iOS other than a smaller number on my ledger.

--
Careful with names containing L slashdot.org/~AiphaWolf_HK slashdot.org/~AlphaWoif_HK slashdot.org/~AiphaWoif_HK