The (Digital) Holiday Spirit: Key Stats
The holidays are here! For most of us this is the time to enjoy holiday cheer and be around family and friends, but for marketers it’s mostly the time to take advantage of the business opportunities the season has to offer. And there are plenty of reasons to celebrate! November and December drive 30% more e-commerce revenue than non-holiday months, and an estimated 92% of holiday shoppers go online to either research or purchase gifts this season.
And while your Christmas strategy should be ready by September, it’s not too late - there’s plenty you can still do to profit until the end of the year!
We’ve scoured all our sources and gathered the most essential data to drive your digital marketing efforts through this holiday season. Let’s start by looking at the key dates, channels and targets you should focus on.
How much is at stake this Holiday Season?
After last year’s record-breaking holiday shopping season, Adobe is forecasting $91.6 billion in online holiday sales just in the US — up 11 percent over 2015. While online holiday sales are expected to increase, Adobe says the overall growth rate for 2016 will be slower than last year.
PwC’s prediction is even more optimistic, estimating a 25% increase in digital sales, with consumers likely spend 10% more this holiday season; an average of $1,121 each.
In the United Kingdom, it is estimated that the average family spent around £800 (approximately $1000) last Christmas. Additionally, the entire holiday sales industry in the UK amounted to £70 billion.
Who should you be targetting?
Hipsters – upwardly mobile, college-educated millennials living in fashionable areas will likely spend $500 more this season than consumers overall, with a weighty third of that spent on themselves. They prefer to buy experiences rather than products, and ads are likely to appeal to them.
Millennial parents, on the other hand, are almost twice as likely as other consumers to use a mobile device to pay for purchases. Far more optimistic about the economy, they start shopping earlier than consumers overall and enjoy it more (75% versus 61%).
At $86 million strong, Gen Z’s buy products more than services, so they are more likely to be conquered by product reviews, especially in mobile video formats, and also social media.
Go mobile or go home!
Regarding device use during the holiday season, Adobe predicts mobile shopping visits will surpass desktop for the first time ever — with 53% of shopping visits happening on mobile versus 47% expected to happen on desktop.
Adobe’s predicted mobile share of visits & revenue for 2016 holiday season
On mobile devices, the most effective ways to target holiday shoppers are email (40%), followed by SMS (19%) and app notifications (16%).
Most effective way to target holiday shoppers via mobile
What is your competition doing?
Regarding marketing budget, 1 in 3 retailers dedicate 31-50% of their total budget to online holiday efforts, and 86% of them expect their 2016 online holiday sales to increase.
Personalization is a major trend for all communication materials- for content creation, products, and especially for gifts. However, 38% of marketers still do not include it in their marketing efforts. 98% of companies aren’t set up to identify, deliver on, and measure moments of intent in the purchase journey, a concept that seems like an obvious approach to take.
The Christmas season is highly competitive for business owners. Leverage today’s data to carefully target your audience and time your marketing for maximum effectiveness.
Be sure to check our next article and learn all the key dates you shouldn’t miss to have your business Christmas-ready!
This article was originally published on AMPLEXOR Customer Experience Solutions Blog.