The 2 months holiday period, spanning from November 1st to December 31st, is marked by strong retail sales. Nowadays, e-commerce retailers benefit strongly of this period, being notably popular for its convenience and among buyers eagers to avoid shopping crowds. Let’s have a look back at this year’s holiday season in e-commerce.
In the UK, 64% of consumers planned making most of their Christmas shopping online in 2017. In the USA, 82% of shoppers declared expecting to buy some holiday gifts online, with 77% planning to buy some gifts in physical stores.
Over the holiday period, 58 days, out of 61, reached more than 1 billion USD in revenue made, for a total revenue of 108.15 billion USD.
Compared to last year, the 2017 holiday period, in France, translates to an increase in transaction numbers by 24%, a revenue boost of 30% and a 4% higher average basket size. Popular products included toys (49%), cultural products (45%), fashion (32%) and beauty (30%).
Black Friday & Cyber Monday
A new USD 5 billion record in e-commerce sales was reached during Black Friday 2017, compared to USD 4.3 billion last year, a 16.9% increase.
Cyber Monday sales cumulated to a whooping USD 6.59 billion, making it the largest U.S. online shopping day in history. This implies a 16.8% increase from last year.
Though only recently introduced in France, the Cyber Weekend is used by e-merchants as a marker to start their holiday campaign. On average, basket value rose of 22€. The average basket size on Black Friday in France was of 118€. Overall, the weekend registered a 312% increase in online sales when compared to an average weekend, making it the 4th most profitable weekend of the year.
Guaranteed delivery limit
Typically, the last big transaction boom occurs between December 14th and 18th, following the limit set for a guaranteed delivery before Christmas. Afterwards, e-commerce traffic tends to fall until the boxing day.
After Christmas
This year, sales nearly double between Christmas day and the Boxing Day, in the US.
In France, the Boxing Day is replaced by “Winter deals” offered from January 10th to 20th.
E-commerce channels
Desktops were used in 67% of all American e-commerce purchases over the holiday period, bringing in 72.3 billion USD in revenues. In comparison, smartphones were used 23% of the time, with revenues of 25 billion USD, and tablets were used for 10% of orders, translating to 10.8 billion USD in revenues.
In France, 61.44% of all holiday purchases were made through a laptop, against 28.94% for smartphones and 9.62% for tablets. With an increase of 6% over last year, the use of smartphone especially gained popularity. In particular, 46% of fashion purchase were made through a smartphone.
