Most stores were closed but Americans still managed to shop on Christmas Day -- increasingly on their smartphones.
An IBM survey showed Christmas Day online sales were up 16.5 per cent over last year, with a strong boost from smartphones and tablets.
Mobile traffic was the highest IBM found over this holiday season, accounting for 48 per cent of all online traffic. And mobile accounted for nearly 29 per cent of all online sales, up 40 per cent over 2012.
Smartphones drove 28.5 per cent of all online traffic compared to 18.1 per cent for tablets, according to IBM. But tablets drove twice as many sales -- 19.4 per cent of all online sales, to 9.3 per cent for smartphones.
Tablet users averaged USD 95.61 per order, versus USD 85.11 for smartphone users.
IBM found that Apple iPhone and iPad users were bigger shoppers than their counterparts using Google Android-powered devices
As a percentage of total online sales, Apple's iOS was more than five times higher than Android, driving 23 per cent of sales to 4.6 per cent for Android.
On average, iOS users spent USD 93.94 per order, to USD 48.10 per order for Android, according to the survey.
Shoppers referred from Facebook averaged USD 72.01 per order, while Pinterest referrals drove USD 86.83 per order, IBM said. However, Facebook referrals converted sales at nearly four times the rate of Pinterest referrals, the report found.
