2011 Cyber Monday home goods sales up 68% over 2010

Susan Dickenson -- Home Accents Today, 11/29/2011 10:42:28 AM

Cyber Monday online sales of home goods rose 68.39% over last year's number, according to an online retail benchmark study by IBM. The average order for home goods was $290.11 this year, 22.83% more than the average order of $236.18 on Cyber Monday 2010.

Overall, Cyber Monday online sales were up 33% over last year, according to the IBM study. The value of consumers' average orders was $198.24, up 2.6% from last year's Cyber Monday average of $193.24.Apparel sales increased 33.9% over last year.

Shopping momentum hit its highest peak at 2:05 p.m. EST (11:05 a.m. PST), and maintained strong momentum after commuting hours on both the east and west coast.

On Cyber Monday, 10.8% of people used a mobile device to visit a retailer's site, up from 3.9% in 2010. Mobile sales reached 6.6%, versus 2.3% in 2010.

"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.