The weekend between Thanksgiving Day and Cyber Monday 2011 reached the history books for recording the biggest online shopping spree ever. Some of the impressive figures include the 1,845,909 page views per minute by online shoppers that peaked at 10PM ET, and 90,907,916,400 total views for Black Friday alone. This inforgraphic noted various facts and figures during the grandest online shopping in four days.  It also revealed how social and mobile created patterns from customers transactions and activities real-time.

Noteworthy spikes in mobile activities were seen as early as Wednesday (November 23^rd) of that week. This was after employees left work to prepare for Thanksgiving and a long break ahead. The “sofa shoppers,” whose favorite time of the day to shop is in the evening, reached a daily peak between 8PM and 10PM EST.

Mobile Shopping

Mobility has transcended to a podium that has attracted several other industries. It has given brands like Apple and Android a billion-dollar value. During the best ever weekend for online shopping, smartphones and tablets played significant roles in generating sales by being the most purchased gadgets and channels for mobile shopping.

The unparalleled sales for the iPhone 4s, mobile apps and tablets, aligned with eBay and PayPal’s prediction, made the Thanksgiving bonanza more profitable compared to previous years. Purchases made online or through e-commerce solutions have made this possible. But it was Cyber Monday that reached record-breaking feats, generating  $1 billion in consumer spending within 24 hours. Shoppers have turned to their mobile phones, especially at night, to beat time-sensitive online deals. Cyber Monday has made 2x more page views compared to Black Friday, and tripled revenues of Thanksgiving Day. Seems like people prioritized  family time first, and splurging came after.

The downside is that busy ports for online shopping became potent targets of cyber scams threats, taking advantage of what should be a joyful season. From mobile ads, apps and smartphones—mobility took over the checkout counter.

Social Network Traffic

Advertising firms are keen on launching audience-targeted campaigns. But when you place ads on Facebook, you have to scale on a global level.  With 800 million active users, the planet’s favorite social networking site is a prime location marketing crusades. During the last holiday weekend, social networking traffic surged the exact same time as online shopping did. This could signal the dawn of the social ecommerce. Facebook and Twitter will possibly be a social networking-slash-marketplace.

Social and mobile platforms are the two most fertile technological landscapes existing today. Separately, they are worth billions. Together, the sky is the limit.