What 2010 Trends Mean For The Future of Online Holiday Shopping

What 2010 Trends Mean for THE FUTURE OF ONLINE HOLIDAY SHOPPING Online commerce has played a bigger role in the holiday shopping season virtually every year since its inception. But as Internet marketing becomes more sophisticated (and consumers become more web-savvy), holiday shopping is undergoing some profound transformations. Below are key trends from the 2010 shopping season that shed light on how online holiday commerce is changing. ACROSS-THE-BOARD GROWTH IN ONLINE HOLIDAY SHOPPING ACTIVITY Consumers and retailers both placed a higher emphasis on web-based shopping during the 2010 holiday season. Around 5.6 percent of Black Friday traffic came from mobile phones in 2010– a 26.7 percent year-over-year increase. Retailers increased their search engine advertising budgets 31 percent Shoppers completed 83 percent more online Retailers enjoyed a 60 percent increase in total online sales revenue. transactions. year-over-year. THE RISE OF DIVERSIFIED SHOPPING FROM MULTIPLE WEBSITES 2010 demonstrated that shoppers are not just visiting the websites of big-name retailers like Best Buy and reflexively doing all their shopping there. More than ever, shoppers are being drawn into sales funnels by search engine advertising, as shown by rising click-through rates year-over-year. O 2009 Click-Thru Rate (CTR) • 2010 Click-Thru Rate (CTR) 5.0% 4.5% 4.0% 3.7% 3.6% 4.0% 3.5% 3.0% .. 2.6% 3.0% ........... 2.5%............ 2.5%....... 2.49% 2.5% 2.0% 1.65% 2.0% 1.5% |1.5% 1.5% 1.0% 0.5% 0% TOTAL HOLIDAY SEASON 21 DAYS THANKSGIVING DAY BLACK FRIDAY CYBER MONDAY HOLIDAY WEEKEND BEFORE THANKSGIVING (SAT/SUN) Interestingly, the number of online transactions rose 83 percent in 2010, while the average order size fell 7.95 percent. This suggests, again, that shoppers are spreading their purchases across multiple websites instead of just one or two. HUGE BUYING ACTIVITY AND COMPETITION DURING SHOPPING HOLIDAYS Consumers and retailers both placed a higher emphasis on web-based shopping during the 2010 holiday season. MONDAY 470% +24.3% $194.89 FREE! YAHOO! According to Yahoo! Shopping's holiday survey "the majority of holiday shoppers are 64 percent of Black Friday searches during Yahoo! searches for Online Cyber Monday sales rose 19.4 percent Affluent buyers drove sales of luxury goods up "holiday gift ideas" rose 470 percent in November versus October, while Black Friday searches the week of November from 2009 to 2010 and 24.3 percent over 2009 22, 2010, were made average order size on Cyber Monday rose 8.3 percent, from $180.03 to $194.89. during Cyber Monday. by women. interested in offers and promotions, with free shipping being the key." started as early as September last year. POPULAR ITEMS FROM 2010'S HOLIDAY SEASON Marketing data firm BlueKai uncovered some popular items during last year's holiday season. Below are the top electronic and holiday gift purchases based on search and shopping activities on top e-commerce sites across the Internet. Holiday Gifts 2 CELLPHONES, MEN'S AND WOMEN'S JEWELRY & WATCHES VIDEO GAMES BOOKS & MAGAZINES PDAS, & SMARTPHONES CLOTHING 10 DOLLS AND TEDDY BEARS SPORTS CARDS CAMERAS DVDS AND MOVIES LAPTOPS & MEMORABILIA Top Electronics in 2010 DIGITAL PHOTO FRAMES 3 4 PLASMA TVS h BLU-RAY PLAYERS E-BOOK READERS LCD TVS 7 8 DVD PLAYERS 10 IPOD TOUCH IPOD NANOS DIGITAL CAMERAS DJ TURNTABLES IF 2010 TAUGHT US ANYTHING, IT'S THAT MORE SHOPPERS ARE BUYING ONLINE, FROM A WIDER SELECTION OF RETAILERS, WITH AN INCREASING FOCUS ON SHOPPING HOLIDAYS, STARTING EARLIER, AND USING THEIR MOBILE PHONES MORE THAN EVER. SOURCES: KENSHO0 | YAHOO! SHOPPING | IBM | BLUEKAI