Based on the shopping trends tracked by IBM through its Digital Analytics Benchmark Hub, consumers in the United States tend to use iOS more for their Christmas online shopping and users of Apple's mobile platform also spend more compared to their Android counterparts. The digital analytics platform monitored data from 800 retail sites on Wednesday December 25 and found out that this year's online sales went up by as much as 16.5 percent compared to last year's.
Roughly 28.5 percent of buyers relied on their smartphones to browse the Internet against just 18.1 percent that represented tablet users. However, IBM noted that tablet users were responsible for 19.4 percent of sales and an average spending of $95.61 per order compared to 9.3 percent and $85.11 for smartphone users.
Brands will be glad to have iOS flooding their websites if findings of IBM will be the basis.
"As a percentage of total online sales, iOS was more than five times higher than Android, driving 23 percent vs. 4.6 percent for Android. On average, iOS users spent $93.94 per order, nearly twice that of Android users, who spent $48.10 per order. iOS also led as a component of overall traffic with 32.6 percent vs. 14.8 percent for Android," IBM disclosed in a press statement.
The benchmark also looked into the influence of social media.
"Shoppers referred from Facebook averaged $72.01 per order, versus Pinterest referrals, which drove $86.83 per order. However, Facebook referrals converted sales at nearly four times the rate of Pinterest referrals, perhaps indicating stronger confidence in network recommendations," revealed the IBM report.
While Apple struggles to catch up with Android in the U.S. mobile market, owners of its devices are clearly bigger spenders.
The Christmas trend is nothing new as it was a continuation of the spending pattern of U.S. consumers during Thanksgiving and Black Friday as IBM found out.
"On average, iOS users spent $127.92 per order on Black Friday compared to $105.20 per order for Android users. iOS traffic reached 28.2 percent of all online traffic, compared to 11.4 percent for Android. iOS sales reached 18.1 percent of all online sales, compared to 3.5 percent for Android," IBM's press release read during the said period.
