Towards the tail end of the back-to-school shopping season, U.S. e-Commerce and mobile sales experienced a surge. During August 2015, U.S. e-Commerce sales increased by approximately 12.0% over the same period in 2014, according to the IBM Digital Analytics Benchmark. During the same period of time, mobile sales swelled by approximately 42.0%, making up 25.3% of all online sales.
For the first time, consumers used their smartphones more than tablets to complete their back-to-school shopping. In fact, smartphones accounted for 12.8% of all online sales, while tablets drove 12.5% of sales. Additionally, smartphones generated 36.9% of all online traffic, while tablets were only responsible for 12.5%.
Three of the best-selling retail categories during the month of August include Apparel, Department Stores and Home Goods, according to the Digital Analytics Benchmark:
Advertisement
-
Apparel: Monthly e-Commerce sales grew by more than 15% over the same period last year. Mobile accounted for 25.3% of all online sales;
-
Department Stores: Online sales grew by 13.7% over the same month in 2014, and mobile sales accounted for more than 30% of all online sales.
-
Home Goods: Monthly e-Commerce sales grew by more than 12.6% over the same period last year. Mobile sales accounted for 22.5% of all online sales.
Throughout August, shoppers also used their mobile devices to browse deals, with mobile accounting for nearly half (49.4%) of all online traffic, while desktops accounted for 50.3% of online traffic. This is a significant change over August 2014, when e-Commerce traffic via desktops (58.2%) far exceeded mobile devices (41.5%).
Despite the momentum of smartphones, shoppers still their tablets while buying higher-priced items. Tablet users averaged $116.97 per order, while smartphone users averaged $105.54 per order. However, desktops still claim the highest average order value of all other channels ($134.25).
