So, folks, Christmas bells are ringing. It's the time of the year to have all your e-commerce guns blazing to cash in on the festive sales and buying.
We all are witness to Christmas 2020 which wasn't the best Christmas, thanks to the Covid 19 pandemic. The Christmas New Year holiday season appeared to have changed for both businesses and consumers. In view of the COVID-19 pandemic, the majority of shoppers chose to make online purchases, prompting retailers to offer ecommerce services. An even more noticeable trend evident from the holiday retail sales statistics is that Christmas shopping began quite early in the year 2020, with promotional offers being rolled out by brands as early as November.
A continuing trend is that American consumers have been regularly spending more bucks on Christmas gifts each year since 2008, the year of the subprime crisis. American shoppers' love for the gift-giving tradition on Christmas is evident from the holiday retail sales statistics for the previous years.
The numbers also point towards the fact that a good part of holiday retail sales can be attributed to online and non-brick and mortar store channels. If you have the right shopping cart software in place, we can vouch that your online store is going to experience a boom in sales this Christmas season with the influx of online shoppers.
In this article, we’ve compiled a list of Christmas shopping facts and statistics to help you make sense of the Christmas and holiday season ecommerce trends. With this data, it will not be hard for you to figure out who is shopping, what they are shopping for, and how much money they’re willing to spend. We have also collected and presented data on what impact the Covid-19 pandemic had on the retail industry during the Christmas season of 2020.
Facts about e-commerce during the Christmas holiday season
Tackling the logistics chaos
Most global companies engaged in the retail business will know what we are talking about. Retail companies find it quite difficult to track and keep a watch on all trade and transactions happening during the month in the run-up to the Christmas holidays. Orders go wrong, goods are lost, it can be really chaotic sometimes.
Counting the bucks spent on Christmas gifts
The following statistics showcase the outcome of a survey on the estimated Christmas spending of American shoppers from the year 1999 to 2017. The most recent survey showed that the average US consumer was hoping to spend about USD 906 on Christmas gifts, which is the highest figure to date.
The second highest amount is USD 866, which is just before the subprime crisis in 2008. The least spending was in the year of the crash itself. However, this comes out to be just a 29% decline. Post-crash, the average spending showed a consistent upward trend almost every year.
Wishlist
The wish list data of Christmas and holiday shoppers shows some interesting facts and trends. Almost 72% of elderly people do not have a wish list. Here are some of the most possible and plausible reasons for this:
● They already have most things they need for themselves
● They are not too aware of the latest products because of unfamiliarity with technology or the Internet
● They have doubts regarding the purchase of items they cannot use.
● People aged above 60 who do not have a wish list, prefer gift cards or vouchers. These give them the freedom to choose to buy whatever they like. This way they can ensure that they do not get gifts that they do not want.
● People in the 18-29 years age group have clothing or shoes as their foremost choice for online purchases. This age group is quite concerned with their looks, hence they have no qualms about spending for items that they believe compliment their looks. Consequently, marketers target this age group in particular during Christmas sales.
● The next set of items on their wish list is tech items such as smartphones, computers and their accessories, electronic items, video, games, etc. A recent survey found out that about 25% of Millennials have Virtual Reality gadgets on top of their wish list.
● For this reason, global companies like Amazon are targeting the Millennial groups with Christmas holiday marketing campaigns like Black Friday and Cyber Monday (BFCM).
Here's an article on BFCM marketing tips for Ecommerce Stores.
Most preferred Christmas gifts and the companies behind them
Forbes compiled a list of the highest-selling products in the Christmas season sales (along with the company manufacturing that product)
1. Smartphones: Smartphones are an overwhelmingly preferred/bought Christmas holiday gift item. As per a survey, it was found that almost 54 % of interested smartphone shoppers wished to buy an iPhone.
2. Tablets: Amazon’s Kindle Fire was found to be the second most preferred tablet after the iPad.
3. e-Readers: Amazon leads the list here together with manufacturers like Barnes & Noble’s and Sony.
4. Gift Cards: The most popular gift cards among Christmas shoppers include: Amazon, Starbucks, Dunkin’ Donuts, Walmart, Apple iTunes.
5. Toys: Toys from brands such as Hot Wheels, Disney, Undersea Mermaid, and Mattel rule the roost here.
Statistics on e-commerce during the Christmas Season
● About 60 % of all US consumers begin to shop for Christmas before December (Source: Statista, 2020)
● 62% of US buyers purchase gifts in the week prior to Christmas. (Source: Fortunly, 2021)
● 60% of US shoppers have online shopping as their preferred mode of shopping. (Source: Deloitte, 2020)
● Almost 50% of US shoppers reported feeling uneasy and concerned about shopping in brick and mortar stores during the Christmas and holiday season of 2020. (Source: Raconteur, 2020)
● The footfall figures of US shoppers to brick-and-mortar stores on Saturday before Christmas 2020 saw a 40.9% drop as compared to the year before. (Source: CNBC, 2020)
● In the Christmas season, about 66% of US shoppers do research online but eventually, end up shopping at offline stores. (Source: Deloitte, 2020)
● Almost 60% of US Christmas shoppers were inclined to buy from a website that had a chatbot service to help them out. (Source: LivePerson, 2020)
● The year 2020 saw 65% of holiday and Christmas shoppers shop online rather than in-store to avoid crowds. (Source: Deloitte, 2020)
● Consequently, the average spending for in-store channels decreased by 28% while the average spending for online channels increased by 64%. (Source: Deloitte, 2020)
● In 2020, merely 25% of US adults wished to shop in brick and mortar stores for the Christmas holidays season (Source: eMarketer, 2020)
● During the Christmas holiday season, 68% of shoppers pay more attention to emails from companies. (Source: Salesforce, 2019)
● In the year 2019, about 47% of shoppers said they would only purchase items on sale in the Christmas and New Year holiday season. (Source: Salesforce, 2019)
● 23% of Christmas shoppers in the USA bank on social media for making purchase decisions. (Source: Fortunly, 2021)
● 20% of holiday shoppers get their shopping inspiration from Instagram. (Salesforce, 2019)
● 37% of Gen Zers prefer to use Instagram for holiday shopping inspiration. (Salesforce, 2019)
● 62% of American shoppers said that better prices will drive them to shift their purchases to new stores or retailers for holiday shopping.
● 44% said unique product offerings will make them do so. (Source: Deloitte, 2020)
● Online and other brick and mortar store sales accounted for $209 billion of these sales. (National Retail Federation, 2020)
● American households spent an average of $1,387 during the previous Christmas holiday season. (Deloitte, 2020)
● In the year 2020, holiday retail sales shot up by 8.3% compared to 2019. (Source: CNBC, 2021)
● Christmas Holiday shopping can account for up to 30% of all retail sales. (Source: MuchNeeded, 2021)
● The duration between December 15 and 24 was slated to account for 40% of all Christmas sales in 2020. (Source: MuchNeeded, 2021)
● American buyers spent $201.32 billion online during the Christmas and New Year holiday season. (Digital Commerce 360, 2021)
● In 2021, according to experts, online retail sales will constitute 16.3% of total retail sales. It will hit 18.3% in 2023 and 19.9% by 2025. (Source: GlobeSt, 2020)
● By 2022, retail sales from e-commerce will comprise 16.3% of total retail sales. (eMarketer, 2020)
● The Christmas and New Year Holiday retail sales in the US grew by 3% during the holiday season in the year 2020. (Source: Mastercard, 2020)
● The Home furniture and furnishings segment of retail sales posted a growth of 16.2%, compared to 2019, leading all other sectors. (Source: Mastercard, 2020)
● On the contrary, the apparel sector saw a drop of 19.1% in year-over-year retail sales. (Source: Mastercard, 2020)
Although these facts and statistics do not mean much in themselves, they can give you cues on what to expect in the Christmas ecommerce sales, based on which you can craft your sales and marketing strategies to drive your sales up.
Thanks for reading!
Happy Holidays!
