The old rules of holiday retail are clearly being thrown out the window as online shopping gains new territory, even on in-store events like Black Friday.
Events like this year’s Black Friday have shown that the jam-packed store aisles all holiday season are no longer a given. Yet, the deep discounts offered are still attracting a different crowd: online shoppers. Waning in-store sales on Black Friday were bolstered by a strong increase in online sales this year. On top of that, online shopping continued in a rally from Thanksgiving to its signature day, Cyber Monday. The constant stream of online sales shows that holiday shoppers are more likely than ever to jump on online deals, even as brands advertise the same or lower prices in-store.
Another compelling trend was the notable volume of online sales stemming from mobile devices. Clearly, the shift in holiday shopping behaviors will lead to disruptive developments for retailers and marketers. Those who want to scoop up as much of the coveted holiday season’s shopping revenue as possible will need to renew their focus on mobile marketing and eCommerce if they want to remain competitive.
From Doorbusters to Browserbusters
The shift towards online sales had its most dramatic effect on Black Friday, indicating that its significance to physical retail sales has begun to wane. Numbers this year seem to confirm this, with Black Friday’s in-store figures remaining largely stagnant from 2014 to 2015. Estimated in-store retail sales for Thanksgiving and Black Friday this year declined to $12.6 billion from last year’s $13.6 billion, a 7.4% decrease. Meanwhile, online sales increased by 21.5% during the same period, more than making up the difference.
This strong, constant gain in online holiday sales throughout the course of Thanksgiving weekend was yet another signal for marketers and retailers. Consumers are now aware that many of the best sales do not occur on Monday or Friday, especially online. Amazon, for instance, began their “Lightning Deals” offers on Saturday. JC Penney was even more ambitious, stretching out the availability of Cyber Monday deals over 48 hours starting the day before.
“It’s no longer about one day, but a season of digital deals,” says National Retail Federation (NRF) president Matthew Shay. He also observed that, “the age-old holiday tradition of heading out to stores with family and friends is now equally matched in the new tradition of looking online for holiday savings opportunities.”
Steve Barr, a retail consultant for PricewaterhouseCoopers, was even more direct: “This holiday may be a wake-up call for store-based retailers to recognize they are going to have to transform their store models to compete with online retailers.”
Armchair Shoppers
Another strong trend witnessed was that sales are not just gaining online, but also on mobile. Forbes reports that mobile retail purchases made up an impressive share of the online revenues — 36.1%. That figure represents a 30.3% gain over last year.
Even more pronounced is the disparity between device users; 77.6% of all mobile retail purchases were made on iOS devices like iPhones and iPads. This lion’s share is actually a bit smaller than last year’s hunk, which weighed in at a hefty 80.5% of purchases made on iOS devices.
NRF President Shay pointed out to Reuters that mobile marketing plays a big part of the overall shopping experience, too. Mobile-optimized ecommerce platforms and mobile-centric digital marketing have had a huge hand in cultivating holiday purchases well in advance of the traditional shopping season.
In total, these developments indicate huge changes on the horizon for how long-standing retail brands will adjust to the changing market. Stores expecting blowout prices to drive foot traffic will now need to hedge their bets with coordinated online promotions.
Others without an eCommerce platform must still address the dire need for mobile-focused segment targeting, holding the interest of mobile users long enough so that they can buy in-store instead of online then and there. The old rules of holiday retail are clearly being thrown out the window as online shopping gains new territory.