Wednesday, December 4, 2013
The IBM Digital Analytics Benchmark put the Cyber Monday online payments increase at 20.6 percent, with traffic from mobile devices growing to 31.7 percent of all online traffic. This represents a 45 percent jump from the same day in 2012. Additionally, mobile-based transactions increased by 55.4 percent year-over-year, IBM reported.
Internet analytics firm comScore Inc. set total desktop online spending on Cyber Monday at $1.735 billion, an 18 percent rise from the previous year. The researchers thus pronounced Cyber Monday 2013 as the "heaviest online spending day in history and the second day this season (in addition to Black Friday's $1.198 billion) to surpass $1 billion in sales."
Meanwhile, online identity verification firm CardinalCommerce Corp. reported that the number of Cyber Monday transactions touching its network were up by 61 percent from 2012.
Visa Inc. analysis of its Cyber Monday shopping data confirmed this data. On its Dec. 3, 2013, corporate blog, Visa's chief economist, Wayne Best, said $2.6 billion was spent online using Visa-branded cards, a 28 percent increase from the same day in 2012. An accompanying infographic stated that Visa cardholders made 28 million transactions on Monday, up by 29 percent from 2012.
Details from IBM's report shed light on additional e-commerce trends. The report found that consumers surf the Internet more often with smartphones than tablets, but tablets were used to make purchases more than twice as often as smartphones. Additionally, tablet users spent more on average than smartphone users, $126.30 to $106.49, respectively.
A majority of online retailers are being aggressive in their mobile marketing campaigns, as well. In comparing daily marketing activity over the previous two months to the five-day shopping period from Thanksgiving to Cyber Monday, IBM said retailers sent 77 percent more "push" notifications (text messages and popup messages within mobile apps) to customers.
Furthermore, the shopping cart conversion rate went up by 12.6 percent on Cyber Monday compared with Black Friday. IBM attributed the rise to consumers believing they were getting the best deals on Monday.
While the staggering increase in e-commerce activity on Cyber Monday is good news for online businesses, it is less joyful for primarily brick-and-mortar retailers. Small businesses without web presences, or with limited presences, are likely experiencing a decline in sales as consumers shift to purchasing online via smartphones and tablets.
ISOs and merchant level salespeople can increase small businesses' share of the growing e-commerce pie by bolstering their online presences. The August 2012 Small Business Happiness Index survey from online business card provider Vistaprint N.V. said 69 percent of micro businesses surveyed had websites, but only 46 percent of them were actually selling products via those sites.
Brick-and-mortar merchants can also leverage awareness and loyalty campaigns, such as Small Business Saturday, to drive traffic into physical stores. Payments industry consultant Linda S. Perry believes the results of the American Express Co.-created annual promotion for small businesses is reason for optimism. "I think it's a great promotion," she said. "It's well-run and easy to use."
Since 2010, AmEx has urged its U.S. cardholders to shop at local small businesses on the Saturday following Black Friday. According to data compiled by AmEx and the National Federation of Independent Businesses, spending at smaller merchants on Small Business Saturday reached $5.7 billion, up by 3.6 percent from the same day in 2012.
The figure may not be as impressive as Cyber Monday results, but it represents a positive trend that can be built upon through awareness and participation. In the Small Business Saturday Consumer Insights Survey, which was conducted by Redshift Research for AmEx using email invitations and an online survey, consumer awareness of Small Business Saturday rose to 71 percent from 67 percent a year ago. And of consumers who were aware of the day, 46 percent said they shopped at small businesses on that day, the survey said.
"With awareness up, the end result was increased spending at small businesses," AmEx and the NFIB said. 
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