iPhone, iPad ring in 13 percent of all online purchases on Christmas
Online sales were up on Christmas Day, and mobile shopping more than doubled over last year, IBM says.
If you used an iPhone or iPad to buy something online on Christmas, you had plenty of company.
Among all online purchases made on Christmas Day, 7 percent were done through an iPad and 6.4 percent through an iPhone, giving iOS devices 13.4 percent of all online purchases that day.
Eyeing online sales across 500 retailers on December 25 and 26, IBM's latest holiday benchmark report found a surge in cybershopping from mobile devices.
Android devices accounted for 5 percent of all online purchases on Christmas Day. And moving to the next day, the iPad again led with 6 percent of all online purchases, followed by the iPhone with 5.8 percent and Android with 4.6 percent.
Overall, online sales on Christmas Day grew by 16.4 compared with last year. Among all the online traffic analyzed by IBM, 18.3 came from a mobile device, a jump of 118 percent from Christmas of 2010. And actual online purchases from mobile devices hit 14.4 percent, a leap of 173 percent from last Christmas.
The online shopping spree continued even after all of Santa's gifts had been unwrapped.
On December 26, online sales rose by 27.8 percent compared with 2010. A full 16 percent of all online traffic recorded by IBM came from mobile devices, a surge of 109 percent from last year. And purchases from mobile devices reached 11.3 percent, an increase of 165 percent from December 26, 2010.
One would expect many of those online purchases to be music, apps, and other digital content for mobile devices. But John Squire, chief strategy officer at IBM Smarter Commerce, told Forbes that IBM looked only at purchases from retail stores through the mobile browser.
The stats for Christmas and post-Christmas follow the trend seen by IBM on Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Both days showed a rise in online purchases from mobile devices, with the iPhone and iPad leading the way.