Retailers rang up a record $91.7 billion in online sales over the holidays, with Amazon.com and Walmart being named the biggest winners, as consumers flocked to their websites in record numbers.
According to Adobe Digital Insights, which measures 80 percent of all online transactions from the top 100 U.S. retailers, shopping via mobile devices raked in $28.4 billion. This was an increase of 23 percent over the prior year. The majority of that value came from smartphones, which generated $19.3 billion in revenue.
Of the 61 days that made up the November and December e-commerce holiday shopping season, 57 were billion-dollar days.
Amazon was the Grinch who stole Christmas away from its competitors, shipping more than 1 billion items around the world between Nov. 1 and Dec. 19 — more than five times its sales during the 2015 holiday season.
Talk about giving Santa Claus a run for his money.
The Prosper Insights & Analytics December survey of nearly 7,000 U.S. adults showed that more than one in four holidays shoppers (26.2 percent) purchased most of their gifts from the Seattle-based online retail store.
Some fun facts from Amazon’s e-commerce holiday season:
– More than 72 percent of Amazon shoppers used a mobile device – Dec. 19 was the peak worldwide shipping day this holiday season – Dec. 23 was the biggest day for arrival of Prime Now deliveries – Echo Dot, Amazon Echo, Fire TV Stick and Oreo Cookies were the top four items ordered – Prime members in Dallas ordered more items with Prime Now than any other U.S. city – More than 200,000 full-time and seasonal Amazon employees in the U.S helped fill orders – Amazon has 45,000 robotics units working in its more than 20 fulfillment centers
Healthy Competition
According to the survey, Walmart ranked second with holiday shoppers at 14.5 percent. It managed to take a direct shot at Amazon with its Christmas Eve Store pick up. This gave last-minute shoppers an extra day to order online and then pick up in store. As a result, the world’s largest retailer saw an increase of in-store pickups during the holiday season.
