iOS users lead the Thanksgiving mobile sales boost

Android might have the sheer weight of numbers, but when it comes to ecommerce, it’s iPhone and iPad owners retailers want to attract. Online shopping data compiled from Thanksgiving shopping yesterday showed that despite iOS devices in the US being outnumbered almost two-to-one by Android, it’s iOS devices that dominate online purchasing. iOS accounted for a quarter of online purchases, compared to less than 7% for Android devices. Average order value was also higher, at $118.57 compared to Android’s $95.25.

Black Friday is traditionally thought of as the first day of holiday shopping in the U.S., but with more buying options (and promotions) becoming available online, many are now starting their shopping a day earlier, on Thanksgiving. As a bellwether for how e-commerce companies will fare in the busiest buying period of the year, yesterday was a mixed (shopping) bag. Overall sales were up by 14% compared to Thanksgiving 2013. But the average order value was actually down. According to figures from IBM, it was $125.25, versus $132 a year ago. IBM adds that the very biggest physical retailers — department stores — saw online sales grow by 29.8% over last year, but their average order value of $139.53 was down by 2.45% compared to last year.