Monetate Influences One in Three Dollars Spent Online on Thanksgiving and Black Friday 2015; 'Tis the Season for Mobile Shopping

monetate

Monetate, the leader in multi-channel testing and personalization for brands worldwide, announced today that its platform influenced a third of all U.S. ecommerce sales (or one in every three dollars spent online) duringThanksgiving and Black Friday 2015.

Monetate data – which reflects an average of 35 million online shopping sessions in the U.S. each day during the holiday period – indicates increases in digital browsing and buying, and significant growth in mobile and social commerce.

Holiday Shoppers Stay Online
Last year, online spending reached historic levels as consumers moved online to both browse and buy. The trend continued this year as online sales in the U.S. on Thanksgiving Day gained 9 percent to $1.1 billion in spending, surpassing the billion-dollar threshold for the second consecutive year and marking the first day of the 2015 holiday season to reach that level. Black Friday followed with an even stronger spending day with $1.66 billion in desktop online sales, up 10 percent from Black Friday 2014, according to Web analytics firm comScore.

Monetate’s data showed average order values (AOVs) started high and fell over the holiday weekend, from Thanksgiving ($173.78) to Black Friday ($164.22) through Saturday ($147.42) and Sunday ($135.61).

“Online sales on Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday 2015 signaled a very strong start to the holiday buying season. This is encouraging, though not surprising, given commerce’s strong performance last year,” said Lucinda Duncalfe, CEO, Monetate. “Rather than brave the lines in-store, consumers are opting to stay with their families during the holidays, buying from the comfort of their couches. And why not? As retailers continue to improve the online shopping experience and extend promotional deals well beyond a few individual shopping days, we expect ecommerce to become the channel of choice for holiday buyers.”

Mobile Browsers Become Mobile Buyers
Much of the ecommerce increase this season was bolstered by a dramatic showing by mobile devices, at unprecedented levels. Overall mobile traffic skyrocketed to 64 percent of all online traffic on Thanksgiving and 61 percent on Black Friday. More importantly, more mobile shoppers used their devices to make purchases this year rather than just to browse or compare prices.

Duncalfe added, “Though we did see dramatic increases this year in buying on mobile devices, consumers are still saving their larger purchases for desktops. Average purchase size on mobile devices grew quickly this year, up 12 percent to $112. But desktop still reigns at $141 average purchase value, up 5 percent from last year. We see consumers making smaller impulse purchases on mobile, but they still prefer the experience and perceived security of the desktop for larger ticket items. The key for retailers this season lies in their ability to use all available data to enrich and personalize the customer experience – regardless of device.”

About Monetate
Monetate is the global leader in multi-channel testing and personalization brands worldwide. The Monetate platform is built for speed. It features an easy-to-use interface that allows marketers to create, test, and deploy customized real-time experiences across web, email, and mobile.

With Monetate, marketing is transformed from a world of discrete one-size-fits-all campaigns to one of always-on, personalized experiences that optimize the lifetime value of each customer.

Founded in 2008, Monetate influences billions of dollars in annual revenue for world-class brands like Macy’s, QVC, Office Depot, Patagonia, Sur la Table, and The North Face. During Cyber Week 2015, Monetate influenced a third of all U.S. ecommerce sales. Monetate is the industry leader, with more clients in the IR 500 than any other company.