Online Holiday Sales Rise 13.9%: IBM

Online holiday sales in November and December combined rose 13.9%, above the 8.5% growth rate in 2013, according to IBM Digital Analytics. Online holiday visits from mobile devices rose 26% to represent 45% of the holiday season web traffic. Mobile sales, meanwhile, rose 27% to account for 23% of total holiday online sales, according to IBM. The data also showed smartphones continued to outpace tablets when it came to driving online traffic. However, when it came to actual purchases, more transactions were conducted through tablets over smartphones.