Some of us look forward to the holiday season as an excuse to take it easy, spend time with family and friends, and devour our body weight in roasted meat. Despite retailers’ focus on relaxation, the holidays are a critical time for them. Across all verticals, Q4 accounts for 26.8 percent of total annual retail sales, which is only marginally more than an ordinary quarter. However, in certain sectors, the holiday quarter has significant significance. For example, 34.9 percent of hobby, toy, and game sales; 34.7 percent of jewelry sales; and 31.1 percent of electronics sales take place. In this article, we have compiled this list of critical holiday shopping statistics to keep you in the 411. Let’s go!
Shopping Early
According to the National Retail Federation, 46 percent of shoppers began procuring for the holidays earlier in 2021 than in previous years (National Retail Federation, 2021). Do you feel that the festive season begins earlier every year? The data suggests otherwise. It appears that consumers are shopping earlier than ever before. In early November, 61 percent of consumers responded that they had already begun their holiday shopping, up from 59 percent in 2010 and just 51 percent in previous years (National Retail Federation, 2011). Almost half of those surveyed said they began their shopping earlier this year. With an estimated one-quarter of holiday shopping already completed by early November, it appears that consumers are moving more quickly this year than in previous years (National Retail Federation, 2011).
Brick and Mortar Selling Techniques
While digital channels have become an important part of the holiday shopping experience, brick-and-mortar stores still reign as the first stop for gift research. Physical stores, on the other hand, are still the most popular starting point for gift research. The research was conducted by Criteo, a digital marketing firm, which found that 46% of consumers plan to begin their gift-searching at brick-and-mortar stores, while 45% will begin at search engines, 31% at retail websites and apps, and 25% on brand sites and apps. Despite the rise of online marketplaces, retailers are still key sources of shopping inspiration. 71% of consumers said they would begin their gift shopping at a retail touchpoint, whether it’s a physical store, brand site, or retail website.
Cyber Monday
Adobe and Statista recently discovered that Cyber Monday is the most successful e-commerce day of the year. It’s also one of the busiest shopping days. In light of the Cyber Weekend theme, Adobe found that Cyber Monday has a higher e-commerce conversion rate than any other major holiday shopping day. On Cyber Monday, conversion rates were 7.2% on desktop and 3.31% on mobile, higher than those seen on other major online shopping days. Black Friday was the closest competitor, with conversion rates of 6.82% and 3.05% for desktop and mobile, respectively.
Home Products
In recent years, we have invested so much of our time at home that we’ve come to admire our abodes, making home products popular holiday items this season. According to NPD, 31 percent of people plan to purchase home products as presents this year. Among the most popular household presents, according to NPD VP and industry advisor Joe Derochowski, will be: Robotic vacuums Air fryers Single-serve brewing systems Massaging devices Electric toothbrushes.
Millions a Minute
According to Adobe Analytics, consumers are going to spend $12 million every minute during the peak shopping hour of Cyber Monday. It’s clear that people go into a frenzy during Cyber Weekend. Adobe data illustrate how much it occurs. Every minute, consumers will spend more than $12 million during the peak shopping hour of Cyber Monday from 8:00 to 9:00 pm Pacific Time, according to Adobe (n.d.). On Cyber Monday, from 7:00 to 11:00 pm PT, there will be nearly $3 billion in e-commerce sales, which is 50% more than the usual August 2021 total (n.d.).
Furniture
According to Salesforce, the category with the greatest year-over-year growth in sales during the 2021 holiday season will be luxury handbags (+59 percent). Let’s take a look at a few of the categories that are expected to do well. Footwear and furniture will see the greatest growth (+37 and +44 percent, respectively).