STATE OF

ONLINE RETAIL
PERFORMANCE
2017 HOLIDAY
RETROSPECTIVE

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 Mobile traffic continued to grow significantly — mobile devices
accounted for more than 50% of traffic on Black Friday and increased
to 56% on Christmas Eve.

Mobile devices also experienced the highest growth in conversion rate

with a 71% increase on Black Friday and 94% increase on Cyber
Monday from 2016. By comparison, conversion rates on desktops and
tablets either remained flat or decreased for the same period.
KEY INSIGHTS

Mobile conversion rates for the first four days of the week before
Christmas were higher than on Cyber Monday.

Bounce rates remained higher on mobile devices than desktops and

tablets, reaching up to 50%.

Black Friday and Cyber Monday were popular internationally, with

many countries outside of the U.S. experiencing significant increases
in conversion rates. And non-U.S. holidays were also recognized as
global online shopping events.

The Black Friday conversion rate on iOS was lower than on Android,
despite higher average order revenue.

Desktop is not dead — it emerged as the device of choice on Cyber

Monday. Safari bounce rates were also significantly lower on Cyber
Monday and Black Friday.

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STATE OF ONL I N E RETAI L P ERFORM AN CE 3
 Performance in the Age of Mobile
Ever since Internet usage from mobile and tablet devices exceeded1 desktop
in late 2016, the mobile revolution has shown no signs of slowing. With the
number of mobile phone users predicted to cross the 5 billion2 mark by 2019,
it’s no surprise that consumers have twice as many interactions3 with brands
on mobile than anywhere else.

Mobile devices not only provide a critical medium through which consumers
experience your digital business, but they also have a significant impact on
revenue and brand value. Nearly 40%4 of 2017 Black Friday revenue was
generated via mobile devices. Furthermore, smartphone revenue on Cyber
Monday grew 32.2% over 20165, reaching a new all-time high of $1.59 billion.

The latest findings from the State of Online Retail Performance support the
growing role of mobile in digital commerce. Retailers with an online strategy
that focuses on delivering superior mobile experiences will outpace the
competition by increasing market share, revenue, and brand value.

Report Methodology
The State of Online Retail Performance report is a study of aggregated performance metrics
for leading retail sites. It is based on beacon data from Akamai mPulse customers who have
given permission for their information to be anonymized, aggregated, and used in this type
of research. A beacon is an HTTP(S) request embedded in a web page that collects data
about the user and session — from session length, to OS and browser type, to conversion
and bounce rate.

For this report, we examined 17 retailers, which accounted for more than 7 billion beacons,
over the 2017 peak holiday shopping period, and compared the results against a non-peak
month of October 2017. Then our data science team used our industry-leading analytics
engine to glean insights from the data collected.

1) http://gs.statcounter.com/press/mobile-and-tablet-internet-usage-exceeds-desktop-for-first-time-worldwide
2) https://www.statista.com/statistics/274774/forecast-of-mobile-phone-users-worldwide
3) https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/consumer-insights/consumer-mobile-brand-content-interaction
4) https://techcrunch.com/2017/11/24/black-friday-deals-net-640m-in-sales-so-far-mobile-60-of-all-traffic
5) https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeanbaptiste/2017/11/28/report-cyber-monday-hits-new-record-at-6-6-billion-over-1-billion-more-than-2016

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Mobile Traffic is on The Rise
During the baseline month, mobile devices accounted for nearly 46% of the traffic to the mPulse
platform — slightly higher than desktop traffic. However, on Black Friday, mobile dominated desktop,
generating more than 50% of the traffic to the platform.

Though mobile traffic also increased on Cyber Monday compared to 2016, it was down slightly from
the 2017 baseline, with users favoring desktops that day. In fact, desktops accounted for the majority
of traffic on Cyber Monday as consumers likely used their computers at work to shop online6 during
business hours.

2017 October Black Friday Cyber Monday

Desktop 44.62% 41.88% 49.08%

Mobile 45.63% 50.24% 43.43%

Tablet 9.75% 7.89% 7.49%

Traffic breakdown by device.

Mobile also played a pivotal role in online activity the week leading up to Christmas. As the holiday
neared, traffic from mobile exceeded desktop. On Christmas Eve, traffic distribution from mobile (56%)
surpassed that of Black Friday (50%). This finding could indicate a preference for the convenience of
shopping from mobile devices when consumers were home for holidays.

60%
Mobile Desktop
55%

50%

45%

40%

35%

30%
18 Dec 19 Dec 20 Dec 21 Dec 22 Dec 23 Dec 24 Dec

Traffic distribution from desktop and mobile the week before Christmas.

6) https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/technology/pages/what-hr-should-do-about-cyber-monday-shoppers.aspx

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Mobile Conversion Growth Outpaces
Other Devices
Even though desktops still have the highest conversion rates, mobile
devices experienced the highest growth in conversion rates.

The trends in conversion rates remained steady, with an overall increase during the peak holiday
shopping season compared to the months preceding it. Conversion rates went up significantly across
the board for desktop, mobile, and tablet on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, compared to the baseline.

2017 October Black Friday Cyber Monday

Desktop 1.48% 3.33% 2.07%

Mobile 0.79% 1.83% 1.01%

Tablet 1.31% 2.88% 1.91%

Conversion rate by device.

However, the increase in conversion rate for mobile was significantly higher than in 2016 — 71% for
Black Friday and 94% for Cyber Monday. By comparison, conversion rates for desktop and tablet either
remained flat or decreased year over year (YOY). This sharp rise in mobile conversions aligned with the
growth of smartphone revenue seen this holiday shopping season.

2016 to 2017 Black Friday - YOY % change Cyber Monday - YOY % change

Desktop +1% -11%

Mobile +71% +94%

Tablet -4% -14%

YOY conversion rate percentage change by device.

In addition, mobile conversion rates for the week before Christmas were not only significantly higher
than the baseline, but — for the first four days of the week — they exceeded Cyber Monday. The decline
in conversion rates closer to Christmas could be attributed to consumers missing the holiday shipping
window. But since conversions for the final few days leading up to Christmas were still at or above the
baseline, the data suggests that last-minute shoppers were taking advantage of opportunities to buy
online and pick up in stores — pointing to the success of omnichannel strategies.

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 Conversion Rates on Mobile Devices
1.20%

1.10%

1.00%

0.90%

0.80%

0.70%
Cyber Monday Week before Christmas Oct-17
0.60%
18 Dec 19 Dec 20 Dec 21 Dec 22 Dec 23 Dec 24 Dec

Conversion rates on mobile devices the week before Christmas.

Page Load Time Significantly Impacts

Conversion Rate
Online users demand digital experiences that are fast, reliable, and always available — and they
won’t wait around for them. Data shows that 53% of visits to mobile sites are abandoned if pages
take longer than 3 seconds7 to load. Our findings demonstrated the continued impact of page load
time on conversion rate.

October 2017 Peak conversion rate Page load time

Desktop 3.45% 0.9 - 1 second

Mobile 2.09% 1.3 - 1.4 seconds

Tablet 3.29% 1.1 - 1.2 seconds

Peak conversion rates observed in October 2017.

Conversion rate decreased drastically as page load time went up. For example, the data showed that
a 3-second load time cut mobile conversion rate in half to 1% and continued to decline sharply from
there. It is imperative that online retailers invest resources to ensure web and mobile pages load fast.

7) https://www.doubleclickbygoogle.com/articles/mobile-speed-matters

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 Impact of page load times on conversion rates for desktop, mobile, and tablet.

What’s your magic number?

The page load time that achieves peak conversion rate is not one-size-fits-all. Every
business is unique, and every web page is different. For example, your checkout pages
might be slower because they need to verify inventory and payment, but users won’t
even make it there if the product pages they’re browsing take too long to load.

With real user monitoring, you can find the exact pages and load times that have the
most impact on customer behavior. Speed matters to a point — and that point varies
for every business — after which it’s simply a piece of the puzzle. Your users, especially
repeat customers, will be more tolerant and likely react favorably to other components
of the online experience that drive behavior, such as images, videos, and personalization.
It is important to find the right mix of richness and responsiveness to ensure your pages
are loading at the pace that’s right for your business.

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Bounce Rates Remain Highest
on Mobile Devices
Mobile users are still more likely to bounce compared to desktop and tablet users. Bounce rate
represents the percentage of users that navigate away from a website after viewing only one page.
However, the data showed a significant drop in mobile bounce rates on Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
Retailers who optimized digital properties were able to keep consumers engaged and dissuade them
from going to competitors.

2017 October Black Friday Cyber Monday

Desktop 36% 33% 40%

Mobile 50% 37% 40%

Tablet 41% 34% 37%

The average bounce rate by device.

There is a strong correlation between bounce rate and page load time. Bounce rate increases
significantly as the page load time goes up. In the baseline month, mobile bounce rate was lowest
(38.24%) at page load times just over 1.5 seconds. However, at a 3-second page load time, bounce
rate increased to 44.28% — up more than 6%.

October 2017 Page load time Bounce rate

Desktop 1.3 - 1.4 seconds 31.70%

Mobile 1.6 - 1.7 seconds 38.24%

Tablet 2.1 - 2.2 seconds 32.44%

Page load times corresponding to the lowest bounce rates.

Bounce rate increases

significantly as the page
load time goes up.

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 Impact of page load times on bounce rates for desktop, mobile, and tablet.

The Peak Shopping Season

is Going Global
With advancements in digital technology, it has become easier than ever to expand business in new
geographies to accelerate revenue growth. Black Friday and Cyber Monday have become popular
shopping days around the world and the global economy has extended the peak shopping season to
include non-U.S. holidays.

For example, Singles’ Day in China is now the biggest online shopping day in the world. The 24-hour
sale on November 11 saw a record $25 billion8 in sales in 2017 — more than Black Friday and Cyber
Monday sales combined. Out of the 140,000 brands participating, more than 60,0009 were international,
and customers from at least 225 countries and regions10 took part.

Though many retailers in our data sample are based in the U.S., they receive a significant amount of
traffic from other countries. The data showed that conversion rates outside of the U.S. were not only
significantly higher on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, compared to the baseline, but were also higher
than the previous year. This finding provided evidence that retailers consider Black Friday and Cyber
Monday global shopping events, investing internationally to improve the overall customer experience
and grow revenue.

8) https://www.forbes.com/sites/helenwang/2017/11/12/alibabas-singles-day-by-the-numbers-a-record-25-billion-haul/#2cea94141db1
9) https://www.forbes.com/sites/deborahweinswig/2017/11/02/singles-day-2017-preview/#6d1fa3d340a5
10) https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-11-12/alibaba-singles-day-goes-global-with-record-25-billion-in-sales

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 2017 October Black Friday Cyber Monday

U.K. 0.99% 2.38% 1.42%

Germany 1.51% 2.91% 1.59%

France 0.99% 2.41% 1.22%

Japan 0.80% 1.38% 0.78%

Overall conversion rates for countries outside the U.S.

2016 to 2017 Black Friday - YOY % change Cyber Monday - YOY % change

U.K. +42% +35%

Germany +31% +34%

France +26% +26%

Japan +23% +18%

Increase in conversion rates for countries outside the U.S.

Closing out the peak holiday shopping season is Boxing Day on December 26, popular in the U.K. and
other Commonwealth countries. Traffic to brick-and-mortar stores in the U.K. decreased 4.5% YOY11, but
there was a surge in online traffic on Boxing Day. mPulse platform traffic more than doubled compared
to average traffic in the baseline month, and U.K. traffic was 21% higher than Black Friday, and 83%
higher than Cyber Monday. The conversion rate in the U.K. was not only significantly greater on Boxing
Day compared to the baseline, but it was also more than the previous year. This data indicated that U.S.-
based retailers created engaging experiences to capitalize on non-U.S. shopping events.

11) https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/dec/26/boxing-day-sales-bargain-hunters-out-in-force-across-uk

U.K. traffic was

21% higher than Black
Friday, and 83% higher
than Cyber Monday.

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 2017 Boxing Day % change compared to baseline

U.S. 1.21% +30%

U.K. 1.37% +38%

Overall conversion rates for Boxing Day.

Another indication of investment in global properties is the drop in bounce rates outside of the U.S. on
Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

2017 October Black Friday Cyber Monday

U.K. 36.2% 28.6% 30.5%

Germany 29.1% 23.4% 27.0%

France 26.9% 20.1% 24.7%

Japan 33.5% 31.2% 32.0%

Bounce rates for countries outside the U.S.

Online Shopping Performance Changes

by Platform
Online experiences and behaviors vary across platforms — from operating systems to browsers. It is
important for retailers to understand these differences when optimizing performance, as platform-
specific improvements can impact the bottom line.

Operating systems

2017 October Black Friday Cyber Monday

Android 30% 31% 26%

iOS 70% 69% 74%

Comparison of Android and iOS traffic.

Not only does iOS traffic exceed that of Android on the retailers studied, but iPhone users have been
found to spend more online than Android users — almost three times more.12 Though the average order
revenue13 was higher on iOS devices this holiday season, Android had a better overall conversion rate on
Black Friday.

12) https://moz.com/blog/apple-vs-android-aov
13) https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeanbaptiste/2017/11/28/report-cyber-monday-hits-new-record-at-6-6-billion-over-1-billion-more-than-2016
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 2017 October Black Friday Cyber Monday

Android 1.08% 2.41% 1.48%

iOS 1.10% 2.11% 1.57%

Comparison of Android and iOS conversion rates.

iOS conversion rate remained lower than Android on Black Friday, even with a decrease in bounce rate
on iOS compared to the baseline.

2017 October Black Friday Cyber Monday

Android 43% 38% 43%

iOS 51% 37% 39%

Bounce rates on Android and iOS devices.

The week before Christmas, the traffic on iOS devices was 118% more than Android, but the conversion
rates on iOS and Android devices were comparable. In fact, Android exceeded its conversion rate from
Cyber Monday for the first half of that week.

Android – Conversion Rates

1.70%

1.60%

1.50%
Conversion Rate

1.40%

1.30%

1.20%

1.10%

1.00%
Cyber Monday Week before Christmas
0.90%

0.80%
18 Dec 19 Dec 20 Dec 21 Dec 22 Dec 23 Dec 24 Dec

Conversion rates on mobile devices the week before Christmas.

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 iOS – Conversion Rates
1.70%

1.60%

1.50%
Conversion Rate

1.40%

1.30%

1.20%

1.10%

1.00%
Cyber Monday Week before Christmas
0.90%

0.80%
18 Dec 19 Dec 20 Dec 21 Dec 22 Dec 23 Dec 24 Dec

Conversion rates on iOS devices the week before Christmas.

Even though more consumers shop on iOS, will Android start to close this gap by expanding its
conversion rate performance edge in the year to come?

Browsers
Examining data from the top browsers, ranked based on the traffic they receive, performance differences
between the platforms emerged once again. For example, there was a significant increase in conversion
rates on Safari and a significant decrease in bounce rates on mobile Safari and Safari on Black Friday and
Cyber Monday. This finding showed that consumers not only engaged online on their iPhones and iPads,
but also on their Macs.

2017 October Black Friday Cyber Monday

Mobile Safari 0.97% 1.99% 1.52%

Chrome 1.41% 3.24% 1.94%

Chrome Mobile 0.86% 1.86% 0.85%

Safari 1.83% 3.59% 2.53%

Conversion rates for the top browsers.

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 2017 October Black Friday Cyber Monday

Mobile Safari 50.4% 36.2% 38.2%

Chrome 36.5% 34.8% 43.1%

Chrome Mobile 43.2% 37.5% 43.3%

Safari 52.3% 38.6% 43.7%

Bounce rates for the top browsers.

Takeaways
Mobile is the fastest-expanding way to transact online, with traffic and conversion rate growth outpacing
other online devices. As mobile adoption continues to rise rapidly, delivering superior digital experiences
on mobile devices is a requirement.

Now that more than half14 of the population worldwide has access to the Internet, retailers are
capitalizing on opportunities to expand their businesses outside of established markets. This holiday
shopping season, retailers benefited by delivering superior experiences worldwide and acknowledging
that the peak shopping season extends beyond Black Friday and Cyber Monday in our global economy.

Understanding online performance and how experiences — by device, location, and platform — affect
user behavior will shape the success of your digital business. Only brands that adapt quickly to global
expansion and mobile adoption can survive.

14) https://www.statista.com/statistics/617136/digital-population-worldwide/

Understanding online
performance and how
experiences — by device,
location, and platform —
affect user behavior will
shape the success of your
digital business.
STATE OF ONL I N E RETAI L P ERFORM AN CE 15
Continuously Manage Online
Performance With Akamai
Trusted by 46 of the top 50 retailers in U.S. and Canada, Akamai provides the world’s largest and most
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• Monitoring how real users interact with your online applications

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• Validating that improvements produced the desired outcomes

Akamai’s cloud delivery platform helps you get closer to and more available for every user interaction to
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As the world’s largest and most trusted cloud delivery platform, Akamai makes it easier for its customers to provide the best and most secure digital
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blogs.akamai.com, or @Akamai on Twitter. You can find our global contact information at www.akamai.com/locations. Published 04/18.

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