The Multiscreen Shopper Has Emerged, and Other Findings From the IBM Smarter Commerce Twitter Chat

The 2012 holiday season is in full swing, and e-commerce earnings for retailers are projected to be record breaking. IBM Smarter Commerce held a Twitter chat yesterday to recap the lessons learned, emerging trends and final results of the chaos that was Thanksgiving, Black Friday and Cyber Week.

Moderated by Forrester Research Analyst Sucharita Mulpuru (@smulpuru), the chat featured Richard Feinberg (@richardfeinberg), professor of consumer sciences and retailing at Purdue University, and Jill Puleri (@jpuleri), IBM Global Retail Lead, not to mention the Twitterverse. Participants deliberated mobile commerce and how the multiscreen shopper will impact holiday sales this year. Tweeters were asked to use hashtag #smartershopping to follow the chat.

"Q1 This holiday was record breaking. What surprised you most this holiday season? Any standout trends or stats? ‪#smartershopping" @smulpuru

Puleri noted that it's become clear that consumers are shopping for specific items through different channels. "Specifically, people are using mobile to shop for clothes online, but are shopping for home goods in the physical store #smartershopping," she tweeted.

Another trend Puleri discussed was the increase in home goods sales this holiday season. Sales were up nearly 8 percent in-store and 27 percent online. "Holiday shopping is usually about clothes & toys. This #trend gives meaning to the phrase "Home for the Holidays. #smartershopping."

Feinberg noted that Amazon.com was the most visited site during the period, with 28 million visitors, and that the retailer has "clearly emerged as a cyberforce beyond books #smartercommerce." He also touched on the fact that consumers are no longer just shopping on Cyber Monday. Actually, it's become Cyber December. "Make everyday cyberMonday #smartercommerce," he tweeted.

"Q2 How were shoppers shopping this holiday? Were they using tablets? How did Couch Commerce come into play? #smartershopping" @smulpuru

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