Mobile and smartphone users were out in full force this Black Friday, and they set records all over the place. Overall, online sales were up 20% over last year’s Black Friday rush, a number that’s impressive until you realize that mobile sales on Black Friday were up 187% over last year. One hundred and eighty seven percent. Mobile sites saw their traffic spike 76% over last year, and mobile traffic accounted for nearly 40% of all online traffic on Black Friday. And when they shopped, mobile users weren’t just buying trinkets and stocking stuffers. The average mobile purchase this year was a whopping $93.20, showing that shoppers are not only willing to spend real money on mobile sites and apps, but more and more they prefer to.

Let’s take a step back and just look at how dominant Apple is in the mobile shopping arena: Apple iOS web traffic accounted for over 28% of all Black Friday web traffic, leaving just 11% for Android users. In addition, 18% of all Black Friday sales (not just mobile sales) were made through iOS devices, and the average purchase through an iOS device was $127.92.

That’s a lot of numbers. Let’s recap:
Online sales were up 20% over last year
Mobile sales were up 187% over last year
Mobile sites saw 76% higher traffic over last year
Average purchase on mobile was $93.20 (iOS users: $127.92)
Mobile traffic grew to over 39% of all online traffic (iOS traffic: 28.2% of all online traffic)
Mobile sales grew to 22% of all sales (iOS users: 18% of all sales)

Read the full story for more numbers from this weekend’s shopping extravaganza. And if your business is ready to jump into the massively expanding mobile marketplace, let us know how we can help you.

[Source] – On Smartphone-Optimized Sites, Black Friday Sales Up 187%, Thanksgiving Sales Up 258% Over Last Year, TechCrunch.com