Trend to Watch: Consumers Start Early, End Late (1 of 4)
Posted:
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
The online holiday shopping season was a season of historic highs: $29 billion in online sales, the first $900M day in e-commerce history, 20% growth in Black Friday searches, and an even more impressive 60% growth in Cyber Monday searches.
How did this historic online growth translate at the consumer level? Throughout the holiday season we tracked consumer research and purchase behavior and the results revealed a trend to watch in 2010: Consumers start early and end late.
In fact, by the end of August 2009, almost half of holiday shoppers had begun shopping and over a third had started purchasing. That's a full 4 months prior to the holidays. On the other end of the spectrum, just 5 days prior to Christmas, many had yet to begin shopping or purchasing.
Though we ended up with plenty of presents under our tree despite the last minute push, this data reveals that the shopping cycle is longer than expected with a large portion of shoppers researching far in advance but remaining more comfortable waiting until the last minute to finish up.
The lengthy shopping cycle will be important to keep in mind when planning your online media for upcoming holidays, such as Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, and Father's Day.
Source: Google/OTX Consumer Pulse Check, 8/09-12/09. Base: Those who plan to shop/research or purchase this holiday season (Nearly 9 out of 10 plan to shop/research or purchase.) [1] Have you started your 2009 Holiday shopping/researching? [2] Have you started your 2009 Holiday purchasing?
How did this historic online growth translate at the consumer level? Throughout the holiday season we tracked consumer research and purchase behavior and the results revealed a trend to watch in 2010: Consumers start early and end late.
In fact, by the end of August 2009, almost half of holiday shoppers had begun shopping and over a third had started purchasing. That's a full 4 months prior to the holidays. On the other end of the spectrum, just 5 days prior to Christmas, many had yet to begin shopping or purchasing.
The lengthy shopping cycle will be important to keep in mind when planning your online media for upcoming holidays, such as Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, and Father's Day.
Source: Google/OTX Consumer Pulse Check, 8/09-12/09. Base: Those who plan to shop/research or purchase this holiday season (Nearly 9 out of 10 plan to shop/research or purchase.) [1] Have you started your 2009 Holiday shopping/researching? [2] Have you started your 2009 Holiday purchasing?
$900 millions from e-commerce? Not bad especially when taking into account the state of the economy in 2009, but let us all hope the industry will do even better this year to another record sale… perhaps $1B.
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Great blog! I hope the economy turns around in 2010.
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Lonnie
Affiliate Business for Moms
I'm glad to be following your blog. This info is great.
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This is great news. If, rather than viewing these online trends as competition to their brick-and-mortar stores, retailers tap into the online trends and create marketing campaigns that incorporate an online campaign with digital signage in the retail stores and Digital-Out-Of Home (DOOH) experience, as well as in-store incentives, they don't have to lose out to e-commerce, rather, they create a total shopping experience that gets customers in the store and keeps them engaged and satisfied while they're inside. It's time for retailers to blend digital media with online and even mobile to strengthen their relationships with today's consumers.
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What I thought was very interesting is how early people start their holiday shopping! I will definitely consider this in the coming season of 2010.
ReplyDeleteDon't forget, there are many other shopping seasons in between.
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