Discounts aid online sales surge

Online sales rose faster than expected in the United States on Black Friday, according to surveys.Internet sales totalled $816m (524m), a 26 per cent gain on last year, Comscore said. IBM Coremetrics put the rise at 24 per cent.Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, is treated by many retailers as the start of the Christmas shopping season. They offer one-off discounts to mark the occasion.Analysts said heavy promotional activity helped drive demand.By comparison, a report by Shoppertrak suggested that in-store Black Friday sales were up by seven per cent on last year, at $11.4bn.The British Broadcasing Corporation reported on Monday that around 50 million Americans visited online retail sites on Friday.It said Amazon was the most popular destination, with 50 per cent more visitors than any other retailer.Walmart, Best Buy, Target and Apple were next in line, said the analytics company.Despite some analysts predictions that the flurry of brick-and-mortar retailers opening their doors early for Black Friday would pull dollars from online retail, we still saw a banner day for e-commerce, sComscores chairman, Mr. Gian Fulgoni, said.IBM Coremetrics also noted a trend towards shopping on smartphones and tablet computers.It said Black Friday purchases made on mobile devices had accounted for 9.8 per cent of all online sales, compared with 3.2 per cent last year.IBM described mobile shoppers as having had a laser focus since they had been more likely to view a single page on a retailers site rather than browse what else was for sale.
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