iOS Delivered Christmas Joy For Retailers

When it comes to shopping for Christmas on cellphones, iPhone users tend to beat out their Android buddies says a retail survey by IBM that tracked over 800 U.S retail websites for real time data analytics.

On an average iOS shoppers spent about $97.28 and accounted for 39.1 percent online traffic compared to Android users, which contributed to just 17.7 percent of web traffic and $67.40 in online sales, according to the report.

Customers shopping on their phones and tablets reportedly drove the boost in sales. Smartphones drove 40.6 percent of online Christmas shopping more than 2.5 times that of tablets, which accounted for 15.9 percent of all traffic. However, for actual sales, tablets accounted for 18.4 percent compared to 16.3 percent for smartphones. PCs accounted for 42.6 percent of all online traffic and netted 65.2 percent of all online sales. Consumers also spent more while shopping on their PCs, with an average order value of $107.72 compared to $88.70 for mobile shoppers, according to VentureBeat.

Though a boost in online sales at Christmas time may suggest more missed deliveries, the number of retailers with misses dropped from 32 percent last year to 23 percent this year, Re/code reported.

Best Buy, Costco, Crate & Barrel, J.C. Penney, Kohl’s, Macy’s and Wayfair each failed to deliver one of four orders made from the retailer, while Toys ‘R’ Us and Staples each missed on two orders. That’s 23 percent of the retailers with misses — but that’s an improvement on 2013, when 8 of 25 retailers, or 32 percent, failed to deliver on time.

It’s often not clear who’s to blame for missed Christmas deliveries. In some cases an online retailer can’t get an order out of its warehouse in time; in others, it’s due to delays by UPS or FedEx. In still other cases, the retailer has exceeded the delivery volume guaranteed to it by UPS or FedEx, so the shipment loses its priority on the carrier’s trucks or planes, even though UPS and FedEx increased capacity for the holidays.