2017 Holiday Shopping and Marketing Trends

Have you finished your holiday shopping this year? Whether you’ve just started or you’re all wrapped up, check out these 2017 holiday shopping and marketing trends.

When Do Holiday Shoppers Shop?

Based on trends seen in Adobe Analytics, Adobe expects Cyber Monday to become the largest online shopping day in history, generating $6.6 billion in sales — up by 16.5 percent from last year. Sales on Thanksgiving Day are expected to increase 15 percent year-over-year to $2.8 billion, too.

It may not come as a surprise to hear that many experts are declaring Black Friday “dead.” While retailers will undoubtedly still offer Black Friday-specific deals, PwC predicts that fewer Americans plan to shop the day after Thanksgiving than any previous year. Why? Because consumers have grown used to deep discounts year-round. There’s simply not the urgency around Black Friday that there once was, and consumers know that they can and will still get that discount at some point during the season.

Compared with the average consumer, 65 percent of younger shoppers plan to put off their holiday shopping until November or later.

And, these late shoppers are taking full advantage of retailers’ extended hours: searches for “where to buy” spike December 18-23 — after the online shipping cutoff dates.

The end of the year doesn’t mean the end of the shopping season, though. 45 percent of shoppers say they shop in January to take advantage of additional post-holiday sales.

What Drives Shoppers’ Interest?

According to the National Retail Federation, when asked which factors influence where consumers shop during this season, they ranked sales and price discounts, quality and selection of merchandise, and free shipping as the top deciding factors.  

From gift inspiration to product reviews, video, unsurprisingly, continues to play a big role in holiday shopping and planning. In fact, the watch time of virtual store tour videos on YouTube grew by more than 10X over the past two years.

Unboxing videos (watching someone unpack and interact with a product) have soared in popularity over the past few years, too. In fact, the amount of time people have spent watching unboxing videos on their phones is the equivalent of watching the movie Love Actually more than 20 million times!

Consider working with top influencers on creating an unboxing video to get more eyeballs on your brand. These influencers are often experts on the topics they cover, and can help your target audience better visualize and understand the benefits of your brand or product.

Mobile-First: Mobile Shopping and Marketing

We’ve all done it: consulted our smartphone to find online product reviews or price comparisons in the aisle of our favorite retail store. Mobile searches for “where to buy” items grew 85 percent over the past two years alone, proving that having a mobile-first strategy is crucial for brands since it is often the starting point in the shopper’s journey.

According to predictions by Adobe, for the first time ever, web traffic from smartphones and tablets is predicted to be higher than traffic from desktops: 54 percent on smartphones/tablets versus 46 percent on desktops.

But discovery on mobile is just one piece of the puzzle. Consumers are using their mobile devices more and more through the entire customer journey. In fact, more than 40 percent of online transactions are now done on mobile.

Holiday shoppers also expect the answers to their thorough research to be tailored to their specific needs. Nearly half (49 percent) of smartphone owners say that they prefer to shop on a mobile site or app that recommends brands or products based on their past views, sales and purchases.

The data from users’ mobile shopping habits offers retailers the opportunity to better understand how customers go through the research and purchase process, and paves the way for longer-term engagement with shoppers well beyond the holiday season.

Social Media Shopping and Purchase Influence

When getting in the holiday shopping spirit, we often turn to our peers and social media for inspiration.

In a worldwide Facebook survey, 49 percent of respondents said Facebook is influential in their holiday shopping, and 28 percent said Instagram is influential in theirs.

Among more than 20,000 mobile shoppers surveyed in more than 17 markets, people were 1.72 times more likely to buy gifts or shop for themselves on Facebook and 1.41 times more likely to research gift or shopping ideas on Facebook (source).

And on Pinterest, one of the most visually inspiring platforms, users start searching for Christmas ideas nearly twice as early as people who don’t use Pinterest. Critically, 55 percent of pinners use Pinterest to shop and for product discovery (source).

These findings speak to the importance of using data-driven insights to help guide your holiday marketing strategy. The Motherhood can provide you with recommendations on how to make your holiday campaigns shine. Contact us today to learn more.