Thanksgiving online sales up, mobile up — and Facebook converting 84% better than Pinterest

In between chowing down on turkey, slurping up cranberry sauce, and sucking down a cold beverage or two with friends and family, we’ve been busy shopping.

At least 10 percent busier than last year, according to IBM.

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According to the IBM Digital Analytics Benchmark, which tracks millions of real-time transactions and analyzes terabytes of data from more than 800 retail sites nationwide, smartphones drove almost double the traffic of tablets today, likely because we’re not at home, and our smartphones are handier.

“Smartphones drove 23.5 percent of all online traffic, compared to tablets at more than 13 percent, making it the browsing device of choice,” IBM said in a statement. “When it comes to making the sale, tablets drove more than 14.6 percent of all online sales, more than one and a half times that of smartphones, which accounted for 8.6 percent.”

Tablets also drove higher average order value than smartphones. While the average smartphone order totaled $113.50, the average tablet order topped $127. All told, mobile traffic was up 31 percent year-over-year, accounting for 37.5 percent of all shopping traffic. And online sales were strong, IBM said, with 23.5 percent of all sales being consummated on a mobile device.

As usual, iOS outpaced Android by a significant margin.

Apple’s OS drove almost four times the sales of Android, and iPhone owners spent an average of $122.55, while Android users averaged $113.50 per order. iPhone and iPad owners also drove more traffic than Android — 26 percent versus 11 percent.

Interestingly, orders originating on Facebook were higher-value than those starting on Pinterest. Usually Pinterest drives higher order value, but today the average shopping expedition that began at Facebook was worth $106.86, versus $102.79 from Pinterest. In addition, Facebook referrals converted a shocking 84 percent more than Pinterest referrals … “perhaps indicating stronger confidence in network recommendations,” IBM said.