Potential customers are more inclined to spend during the holiday season, and starting holiday sales usually helps to promote your business and increase the conversion, especially, if you are a Shopify web store owner, through Shopify mobile apps, as people tend to plan spending some time for shopping before holidays, and tend to browse goods on mobile devices to compile their wish list. Why is such a change of shopping behavior and consumer preferences important to your e-commerce business?
According to ShopperTrak, the numbers show that the total sales for offline kind of retailers dropped by ten percent during Thanksgiving Day with further Black Friday and Cyber Monday. But it doesn’t mean that clients cut all the expenses, on the contrary, nearly 30 percent of all sales for retail appear during the holiday season from Black Friday till Christmas, as states NRF for 2015 year.
General ideas about online shopping and holidays
The main point shown in general trends is about online sales that took the place instead, increasing their annual statistics by 14.6 percent in 2015. Sure, it’s only about 8 percent of the total retail market, however, its presence increases. That’s especially noticeable for m-commerce, where mobile sales reached 53 percent in 2016, also bringing 64 percent of the traffic.
Therefore, the mobile shopping already became the new black, as the majority of shoppers (up to 55 percent of participants of the Astound Commerce survey) research any products through mobile means and expect retailers to offer the diversity of sales channels. For instance, Shopify web store can be easily converted into a fully native Shopify iOS mobile app with the help of the application, such as EasyMobile. And other popular e-commerce platforms also have similar solutions that help to convert their web stores to iOS and Android applications, and the emergence of such solutions was a logical response to a market demand, which again proves the focus shift in online shopping towards mobile.
Thanksgiving Day statistics and expectations for 2016 season
One of noticeable reasons of the online shopping increase was the fact that many retails didn’t open their offline stores during this holiday. Such a decision was intentional in many cases, as it could draw more attention to their websites. In addition, statistics showed that approximately 60 percent of adult Americans enjoy the online shopping experience without all those crowds in malls and stores, according to the Nextopiaresearch.
Moreover, Adobe Digital Index showed $1.73B were spent online last year, 25% more in comparison to the previous one. What else? M-commerce gets all the awards by taking 57 percent of all online sales on Thanksgiving Day. That’s why you should consider building your own native iOS mobile app, and there are plenty solutions in the market that you can choose from to address this matter. And keep in mind that Apple mobile devices still bring 77 percent of orders of mobile sales, so you should consider placing an emphasis on Shopify iOS app first, then do Android, in case you don’t want to build both at once.
Expected trending products include 4K Samsung TVs and smartphones, game consoles always remain on demand during holiday shopping (new video games are included). But you may also try your luck with apparel and home appliances. If you target Z generation, they are more about tangible presents, while Millennialsvalue experiences more, so the campaign with gift cards may also turn successful if you catch your audience.
E-commerce Black Friday & Cyber Monday sales
The main trend about these shopping days shows the constant growth of mobile traffic (57.2 percent of absolutely all online traffic on Black Friday, and 49 percent on Cyber Monday), though the desktop sales still remain the online leaders. However, building the Shopify iOS app will help you to establish the real user loyalty, especially if you can engage your customers turning them into repeat buyers, and this is when push notifications come in very handy.
Try to promote your products through the wise SEO copywriting, as the majority of purchasers came due to email marketing (25.1 percent of sales) and the organic search brought 21.1 percent, as Custora states.
Free shipping is also expected to become an efficient tool for promoting your sales. Consider coupons and discount codes, they are easily generated and shared via Shopify add-ons. Play with hashtags through Instagram and Pinterest to reach your potential buyers. And keep your eye on the feedback.
Trends for Christmas sales
Christmas brings the maximal revenue during one day, up to 20 percent for the US retail. And it’s expected that this year Christmas sales will bring 66 percent of your online window shoppers. So prepare beforehand, arranging your delivery and logistics flawlessly.
How to enhance your holiday sales with Shopify mobile app
Optimize your web store for smartphone-friendly appeal - as user experience is considered the most impactful point for any online sales, a native mobile app is the best way to actually deliver the perfect user experience for your users. EasyMobile will help you to address this, and having a mobile sales channel added to the list, you can analyze what works best for your business, and which sales channel you should push the most. Happy holiday sales!