iOS Users Eager to Snap Up Deals on Thanksgiving

Did you buy some discounted goodies between courses on Thanksgiving Day? Some of you sure did, according to stats from IBM, which saw a 25.4 percent year-over-year increase in sales made from mobile devices, with iOS leading the way.

Overall, U.S. online sales on Thanksgiving Day were up 14.3 percent from last year, and mobile sales made up 32.3 percent of purchases, according to IBM Digital Analytics Benchmark.

IBM found that smartphones were more popular than tablets for browsing (36.4 percent vs. 15.4 percent, respectively), but when it came to actually making a purchase, tablets were the winners with 17.9 percent of online sales, compared to smartphones at 14.4 percent.

"Apple iOS once again led the way in mobile shopping this holiday season, outpacing Android across three key metrics," according to IBM, which pointed to order value, online traffic, and online sales.

Apple iOS users averaged $118.57 per order compared to $95.25 for Android users. Apple iOS traffic also accounted for 35.7 percent of total online traffic, more than double that of Android at 15.9 percent. Finally, Apple iOS sales accounted for 25.2 percent of total online sales, more than three times that of Android at 6.9 percent.

Still, despite all the mobile browsing, desktop-based shopping is still kicking. "Desktop PC traffic represented 47.6 percent of all online traffic, and 67.6 percent of all online sales," IBM said. "Further, consumers spent more money on their desktops with an average order value of $132.48 compared to their mobile devices at $112.69, a difference of 17.6 percent."

If you're looking to social to drive sales, try Facebook or Pinterest. Facebook referrals drove an average of $107.73 per order, while Pinterest referrals averaged $95.24 per order, IBM said.

For more, check out some of the gadgets the PCMag staff wants this holiday season in the slideshow above. Also see The 10 Best Shopping Apps to Compare Prices