US shoppers once again took advantage of early promotions this holiday season, driving a 17.4 percent increase in online sales Thanksgiving Day. This increase set the stage for 20.7 percent growth on Black Friday, according to IBM’s 2012 Black Friday Report.
According to the report, the biggest surge came from mobile consumers, with sales reaching 16.3 percent, led by the iPad.
Here are some more trends the IBM Digital Analytics Benchmark 2012 Report revealed:
• Mobile Shopping: Mobile purchases soared with 24 percent of consumers using a mobile device to visit a retailer’s site, up from 14.3 percent in 2011.  Mobile sales exceed 16 percent, up from 9.8 percent in 2011.
• The iPad Factor: The iPad generated more traffic than any other tablet or smart phone, reaching nearly 10 percent of online shopping.  This was followed by iPhone at 8.7 percent and Android 5.5 percent. The iPad dominated tablet traffic at 88.3 percent followed by the Barnes and Noble Nook at 3.1 percent, Amazon Kindle at 2.4 percent and Samsung Galaxy at 1.8 percent.
• Department stores continued to offer compelling deals and promotions that drove sales to grow by 16.8 percent over Black Friday 2011.
• Health and Beauty sales increased 11 percent year over year with consumers once again choosing to pamper themselves this holiday.
• Apparel sales were also strong this holiday with Black Friday numbers showing an increase of 17.5 percent over 2011.
