Black Friday Online Sales Grow Nearly 16%

According to Coremetrics, an IBM company that provides Web analytics and marketing optimization services, found that the U.S. online retail sector experienced a healthy year-over-year gain in online Black Friday sales.

Online sales were up 15.9 percent compared to Black Friday 2009, according to Coremetrics (as of midnight PST on Saturday, Nov. 27). The average order value was $190.80, up 12.1 percent from $170.19 last year.

Shoppers purchased an average of 7.44 items per order this Black Friday, up from 5.40 items per order last year, a 37.8 percent boost.

The company also found that jewelry retailers reported a 17.6 percent boost in sales. “These affluent shoppers appear very willing to open their wallets,” the press release notes.

The third annual Black Friday Benchmark Report also saw consumers who knew what they wanted, as they looked at 18 percent fewer products on websites than they did last year.

Social networking also took an unsurprising foothold in the shopping process, as more visitors to online retail sites are coming from brands’ social networking sites. Though the percentage is small (less than 1 percent of all online visitors), Coremetrics notes that this is gaining momentum, with Facebook leading the way.

On Black Friday, 5.6 percent of shoppers visited a retailer’s website via a mobile device, up 26.7 percent from last year’s Black Friday.

Shoppers spent 17.7 percent more time on department store websites than they did last year, as they researched deals and product promotions.

The health and beauty category saw a 73.1 percent increase in new consumers completing their first purchase on their websites. It also saw a 53.4 percent increase in the number of visits leading to completed orders.

Coremetrics also found that shopping cart abandonment was at 64.8 percent, down slightly from 65.4 percent on Black Friday last year.

According to Compete, 45 percent of consumers plan on shopping during Cyber Monday, more than the 37 percent who said they would shop on Black Friday. However, Black Friday shoppers planned on spending more money ($353) than Cyber Monday shoppers ($233).

Sources:</strong

http://www.coremetrics.com/company/2010/pr11-27-10-black-friday-online-spending.php

http://blog.compete.com/2010/11/23/more-people-planning-to-shop-on-cyber-monday-than-black-friday/