IBM Sees Online Sales Jumping 15% Between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday

IBM projects that online holiday sales will increase 15 percent over the five-day period between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday, compared with last year, the company said Wednesday in its annual holiday forecast report. The biggest increase in online sales is expected on Cyber Monday, when sales will grow 15.8 percent, followed closely by Thanksgiving with a projected increase of 15.6 percent, it said. It sees Black Friday online sales growing 13 percent "as consumers find the best deals with their fingers as well as their feet," it said. IBM based its predictions "on historical and real-time trend data analyzed across hundreds of U.S. retail websites," it said. Now in its seventh year of holiday reporting, IBM tracks more than 370 performance indicators, and "helps retailers and marketers benchmark themselves against industry peers while driving more targeted customer engagements," it said. Other IBM projections: (1) For the first time ever, more than half of all online shopping on Thanksgiving, roughly 53 percent, will come from a mobile device, up by 23 percentage points year-over-year. (2) Smartphones will continue to lead in mobile browsing over the five-day shopping period, accounting for 29 percent of all online traffic vs. 15 percent for tablets. However, IBM predicts tablets will account for twice as many mobile purchases as smartphones due to their larger screen size.