'Cyber Monday' sales rise after weekend disappointment

Online retail sales showed healthy gains on "Cyber Monday," a key kickoff for online shopping for the holiday season, surveys showed.

According to the Adobe 2014 Digital Index, US online sales came in at $2.65 billion, up 16 percent from 2013.

Adobe said the top 25 retailers, who each generated $30 million or more on Cyber Monday, saw online sales increase by 25 percent and took in nearly $1.8 billion.

Consumers saw the highest discounts of 23 percent in the early morning hours and more than half of online sales came in outside of normal working hours.

"The early birds caught the worms on Cyber Monday, with shoppers getting the steepest discounts in the early morning hours, said Adobe's Tamara Gaffney.

A separate survey by IBM Digital Analytics showed online sales up 8.5 percent compared with a year ago. The survey found mobile devices accounted for 41 percent of all online traffic on Cyber Monday, an increase of 30.3 percent. Mobile sales accounted for 22 percent of the total.

IBM said the average order was $124, down 3.5 percent from last year, suggesting consumers are shopping for bargains.

The news came after weak results for Black Friday, the traditional kickoff to holiday shopping in stores the day after the Thanksgiving holiday.

The National Retail Federation said Friday sales fell 11 percent from last year, and analysts said this was due to consumers spreading their purchases over a longer period, including the holiday on Thursday.

© 2014 AFP