iPad-using Thanksgiving Day shoppers purchased items nearly twice as much as people using mobile devices, according to data from IBM. On average, iPad conversion rates hit 4.6% compared with 2.8% for other mobile devices. On Black Friday, visits from iPads increased 124% vs 2010, whereas visits from mobile devices only increased 60% vs 2010. Gannett-owned PointRoll shows similar trends, noting that iPad users shopped more from their devices. Offers via iPads grew 85% over 2010, with the most access occurring on the Sunday after Black Friday. On that day, iPad access increased by 223% as compared to 2010 levels.
Black Friday was the heaviest online shopping day of 2011. ComScore reported $816 million in U.S. online holiday spending, up 26% from a year ago. Black Friday mobile payments for 2011 were up 516%.
Regardless of what you’re using to shop online, Amazon still ranks number one among Black Friday online retailers. ComScore says that 50 million Americans visited retail websites on Black Friday, up 35% from last year. The top sites were Amazon.com, Wal-Mart Stores, Best Buy, Target and Apple. Amazon is the top revenue-producing Internet retailer, and its site is completely tablet-optimized.
iPad purchasing was helped among by the couch commerce trend. More online shoppers were checking out the stores from their smartphones and tablets after Thanksgiving dinner. One in three online consumers will use a tablet by 2014.
