Slice Kicks Off Holiday Shopping Season With Behind-the-Scenes Sales Data

PALO ALTO, CA--(Marketwire - Dec 12, 2012) - This holiday season, consumers are thinking e-tail. In a record-breaking week, millions of shoppers went online to get a head start on their holiday shopping and take advantage of the sales. Today, Slice released exclusive data highlighting the major trends from the first big holiday sales push in 2012. From major trends among big-box retailers to the hottest-selling tablets, Slice's data provides the most comprehensive look at online retail trends this holiday season.

Since launching in 2011, Slice has tracked more than 45 million purchases. Because Slice aggregates data across all online retailers, the company has unique insight into the e-commerce landscape. Slice has the inside scoop on the what, where and how much of online shopping. With online sales totaling nearly $1.5 billion on Cyber Monday alone (via comScore's latest report), it's clear that holiday shoppers are increasingly turning online. Curious to see which retailers and products came out on top, Slice took a look at the trends that emerged in the first two weeks of the holiday shopping season.

Results include:

• Top 5 Black Friday merchants. One-day sales from retailers like Apple drove holiday shoppers online in record-breaking numbers. Below is the list of the top five retailers on Black Friday, with the average order sizes and market shares included:

1. Amazon - $62 average order size; 32 percent market share, up from 26 percent in 2011
2. Macy's - $109 average order size; 5 percent market share, up from 2 percent in 2011
3. eBay - $59 average order size; 5 percent market share, up from 2 percent in 2011
4. Apple - $520 average order size; 5 percent market share, down from 16 percent in 2011
5. Walmart - $99 average order size; 5 percent market share, up from 4 percent in 2011

• Top 5 Cyber Monday merchants. Not surprisingly, Amazon dominated online sales on Cyber Monday -- offering a host of offers, including a sale on Kindle Fires. Brick-and-mortar stores that offered Black Friday online sales dropped rank throughout the holiday weekend. Notably, Sears fell from the seventh to the 47^th most popular shopping destination from Black Friday to Cyber Monday. Below are Cyber Monday's top five retailers:

1. Amazon - $62 average order size; 40 percent market share, up from 31 percent in 2011
2. Walmart - $120 average order size; 5 percent market share, up from 4 percent in 2011
3. eBay - $51 average order size; 5 percent market share, up from 4 percent in 2011
4. Newegg - $126 average order size; 3 percent market share, down from 6 percent in 2011
5. Macy's - $124 average order size; 2 percent market share, up from 1 percent in 2011

• Walmart sales climb, Apple's drop. Online retail sales by merchant were largely consistent throughout the weekend, with a few notable exceptions. Owing perhaps to Black Friday-only offers, Apple's average order size dropped from $520 on Friday to $308 on Cyber Monday -- bringing the technology giant down from the fourth to the seventh most shopped-at online retailer. Walmart, on the other hand, began the holiday weekend as the fifth most popular online retailer on Black Friday (with a $99 average order size). The big-box retailer climbed the ranks on Saturday and Sunday, ultimately claiming the number two spot on Cyber Monday. Walmart's average order size on Cyber Monday rose to $116. In the week following Cyber Monday, however, Walmart's average online order size dropped back down -- ending the month at $88.
• Post-Cyber Monday, Toys R Us sales soar. While most online retailers experienced a drop in order size following Cyber Monday, Toys R Us actually experienced its biggest shopping day on the following Thursday -- peaking with an average order size of $208. The rest of the week saw strong sales for the toy retailer as well, averaging $127 per order on the Tuesday after Cyber Monday (Cyber Monday order sizes averaged at $166). Toys R Us was one of several retailers (Target and Walmart also included) to offer extended Cyber Monday deals. Beginning on Sunday, November 25, ToysRUs.com featured limited supply, online-only deals throughout the week.
• QVC rakes in weekend shoppers. While displaying strong sales on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, QVC saw a huge spike in online sales on the Saturday and Sunday in between. On Black Friday, average order sizes came in at $202 for the home shopping network. Average order sizes then jumped up to $250 on Saturday before dropping back down to $150 that Sunday and $131 on Cyber Monday. QVC was the only retailer in the top ten to spike in online sales on the Saturday after Black Friday. Perhaps a result of QVC's "Better Than Black Friday" offers, QVC came in as the fifth most shopped-at online retailer on Saturday, November 24.
• Tablet sales. Tablets are among the hottest selling items this holiday season, with the most popular models coming from Amazon and Apple. During Thanksgiving weekend, the new iPads (mini and Retina) had a slight edge over Kindle Fire HDs -- selling 11:9. However, Amazon's tablet suite dominated the market, with the full line of Kindle Fire models winning out nearly 4:1 (74 percent) over iPad mini, iPad Retina and iPad 2 sales.

"The holiday season is when consumers tend to shop the most online -- usually November and December represent on average 38 percent of their annual online spend," said Scott Brady, CEO and co-founder of Slice. "And retailers have certainly taken note this season, capitalizing on this trend with enticing new online-only and mobile offers. The data shows a strong start to the holiday shopping season, and now with Green Monday sales from big name retailers like Newegg, Macy's, eBay, and Walmart, we can expect to see strong online sales continue throughout the month."

Available as an app for iPhone, Android and as a standalone Web service, Slice simplifies your shopping by organizing all your online purchases in one place and tracking your in-progress shipments on a single map. A must-have tool going into the holidays, Slice is armed with features including price drop notifications, simplified returns and package tracking with friends. Slice was named "the best package tracker for iPhone" by Lifehacker, the "new BFF" for online shoppers by CNN and a "start-up to watch in 2012" by Inc. Magazine. For more information, visit www.slice.com/get_slice.

About Slice 
Slice uses information from electronic receipts in your inbox to create fun and useful consumer applications and experiences. Its popular flagship app, Slice, provides a simple way for consumers to manage all of their purchases, organize receipts, track shipping, take advantage of price adjustments and improve their shopping experiences. Based in Palo Alto, CA, Slice is privately held with funding from DCM, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Michael Birch, FLOODGATE, Innovation Endeavors (Eric Schmidt) and Rick Thompson. For more information, visit www.slice.com.