Holiday Sales Via Mobile Devices Grew 27%

Holiday retail sales generated through mobile devices increased 27 percent and accounted for 23 percent of the total for November and December, according to IBM Digital Analytics. Total online holiday sales increased nearly 14 percent from a year earlier, according to the survey, from a unit of International Business Machines Corp. IBM. About 46 percent of traffic, a measure separate from sales, was generated by mobile devices during the two-month period, according to the survey. That's up about 26 percent from a year earlier. Data solely from Dec. 15 was broadly similar to the full two-month period, and showed that smartphones drove 40.6 percent of total online traffic, while tablets accounted for 15.9 percent of all online traffic. But sales via tablet accounted for 18.4 percent of online sales, versus 16.3 percent via smartphones on Dec. 25. About 65.2 percent of Dec. 25 sales were generated through desktop PCs, IBM said.