What would a Black Friday report be if it didn’t compare iOS and Android? According to IBM’s Black Friday Benchmark report, Apple iOS traffic reached 28.2 percent of all online traffic, compared to 11.4 percent for Android, and iOS sales reached 18.1 percent of all online sales, compared to 3.5 percent for Android. 
On average, Apple users spent approximately $22 more than Android users, or $127.92 per order. Android users spent $105.90 per order.
Tim Cook has long been a fan of citing IBM’s reports for what he says they prove about the usability of Apple’s products.
Indeed, when broken down by platform, the mobile shopping numbers might seem a bit counter intutive. Android ranked as the top smartphone platform in September with 51.8 percent market share, followed by Apple with 40.6 percent, according to ComScore.
Overall, online sales set a new record on Thanksgiving and into Black Friday, with the use of tablets and smartphones jumping dramatically. Thanksgiving Day online sales grew by 19.7 percent year-over-year, followed by Black Friday, with sales increasing 19 percent over 2012.
Average order value for Black Friday was $135.27, up 2.2 percent year-over-year.
But it was mobile shopping that really shined. Mobile traffic accounted for 39.7 percent of all online traffic, increasing by 34 percent over Black Friday 2012. Mobile sales were also strong, reaching 21.8 percent of total online sales, an increase of nearly 43 percent year-over-year.
Walmart reported that Walmart.com processed nearly 400 million page views on Thanksgiving Day, a figure that included customers who used mobile devices and tablets.
New York City took the top spot for online sales on Black Friday. Rounding out the top five were Atlanta, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C. and Chicago.
IBM also found that shoppers mainly used their smartphones to shop, but their tablets to actually make purchases. Smartphones drove 24.9 percent of all online traffic on Black Friday compared to tablets at 14.2 percent, making it the browsing device of choice. Tablets drove 14.4 percent of all online sales, double that of smartphones, which accounted for 7.2 percent of all online sales.
Tablet users also averaged 15 percent more per order than smartphone users, spending on average $132.75 versus $115.63 for smartphone users.
Black Friday is just the beginning of the holiday shopping season. Consumers will no doubt be logging purchases on their various devices today, as retailers push their Cyber Monday deals.
Filed Under: Devices
