It’s difficult to imagine shopping for scarves and sweaters in this sweltering summer heat; however, the holiday season is right around the corner! Unfortunately, it looks as though we may be celebrating christmas corona-style this year. Retailers across the globe are facing a host of challenges in the aftermath of lockdowns and the impending uncertainty of the fall and winter months. Many retailers have concerns about supply chain issues, temporary staffing, securing their online presence, and ensuring excellent customer experiences, both online and in-person. If we have learned anything over the past six months, it’s that businesses must be digitally ready for whatever is to come to remain competitive.
How can retailers prepare for this busy season amidst all of the chaos
In february 2020, as covid took hold of the us, emarketer predicted the 2020 holiday season total retail spend to increase by 3.4% to $1.042 trillion and e-commerce spend to increase by 13.9% to $156.69 billion. Will these predictions hold up in the era of coronavirus? Could e-commerce cell phone lists exceed expectations as brick-and-mortar retailers are forced to impose covid protocols on in-store customers? In order to answer these questions and more, let’s carefully review pre-pandemic 2019 holiday statistics to provide us with insights as we prepare for what’s ahead.
General holiday e-commerce statistics
2019 was the first holiday season to pass the trillion-dollar mark in retail sales. Brick-and-mortar retail and e-commerce spending totaled $1.007 trillion. (emarketer)
Brick-and-mortar revenue comprised $869.4 billion of the total season’s revenue, a growth of 2.4% year over year. (emarketer)
Online spending in the u.S. Increased by 13.1% with a total of $142.5 billion spent. (adobe)
When asked how they’d split their holiday shopping, consumers indicated they’d use the following channels.
Average daily sales totaled $2.3 billion
Billion in sales with the exception of christmas eve, which brought in $850 million.
Thanksgiving 2019 posted $4.2 billion in IE Lists sales in the u.S. Alone. This was a 14.5% increase from the previous year. (adobe)
Black friday 2019 sales totaled $7.4 billion in the u.S., making it the second most profitable day of the season. It was a 19.6% increase from 2018. (adobe)
Cyber monday 2019 had the highest single-day sales in history, totaling $9.4 billion. This was a 19.7% increase from last year. (adobe)
There were $2.8 billion in sales made between 7 p.M. And 11 p.M. On cyber monday. More money was spent in this four-hour timeframe than the average day’s sales during the holiday season. (adobe)
The five-day cyber week (thanksgiving to cyber monday) brought in a total of $28.5 billion in the u.S.
