shorter-holiday-season-won’t-dampen-e-commerce-sales-with-revenue-expected-to-surpass-$143-billion

With a head start on this year’s shorter-than-usual holiday season, e-commerce sales should remain robust, according to Adobe’s predictions. The company expects online holiday revenue to reach $143.8 billion this year, a 14.1% increase over last year.

That growth estimate is below the 16.5% year-over-year increase in e-commerce sales that Adobe reported last year, when the shopping season was as long as possible.

“Holiday 2019 is the shortest possible, with only 22 days between Cyber Monday and Christmas,” reports Adobe, “This leaves almost $1 billion in revenue behind. However, retailers are able to make that up by starting sales earlier this year. Thanksgiving will grow at 20%.”

Adobe says that every day during November and December will see more than $1 billion in online holiday sales. The report is based on aggregate data from more than one trillion visits to U.S.-based retail websites.

What to expect Cyber Week. The 20% lift in e-commerce sales expected on Thanksgiving will account for $7 million more than was generated last Thanksgiving. Adobe also expects Cyber Monday to see record-breaking sales this year, climbing to $9.4 billion for the day — an 18.9% increase over last year.

2019 Cyber Week e-commerce sales

This year’s Cyber Week — Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday — will prove its worth as the biggest online shopping week of the year with sales projected to reach nearly $30 billion ($28.9), accounting for 20% of the holiday season’s total online sales.

Mobile shopping is growing with help from social. Adobe expects mobile shopping to account for nearly 50% of the overall retail holiday growth in the U.S.: “Americans will spend $14 billion more this holiday season on their phone compared to last year.”

Christmas Day sales will also see more purchases happening on phones than on desktops — the first time ever mobile devices will own more sales than desktops for the day.

Social isn’t translating to sales the same way email and search are, according to Adobe, but it is driving more e-commerce visits. Adobe says the share of smartphone visits on e-commerce sites stemming from social has more than tripled during the last three years.

Why we should care. This year’s shortened holiday season (there are six fewer days between Thanksgiving and Christmas) means marketers will likely need to start their campaigns earlier than usual to reach their holiday goals. Fortunately, according to Adobe’s predictions, the shortened holiday isn’t going to have much impact on how much revenue is up for grabs.

To compete with the big retailers who have already started their online holiday deals — places like Walmart and Best Buy — marketers will need to keep in mind the holiday calendar, and the anticipated heavy shopping days, when implementing their holiday campaigns.



About The Author

Amy Gesenhues is a senior editor for Third Door Media, covering the latest news and updates for Marketing Land, Search Engine Land and MarTech Today. From 2009 to 2012, she was an award-winning syndicated columnist for a number of daily newspapers from New York to Texas. With more than ten years of marketing management experience, she has contributed to a variety of traditional and online publications, including MarketingProfs, SoftwareCEO, and Sales and Marketing Management Magazine. Read more of Amy’s articles.



walmart’s-jump-on-a-shorter-holiday-season-taps-technology-to-drive-sales-across-channels

In light of the shortened holiday season this year — there are six fewer days to shop than last year with Thanksgiving landing on November 28 — Walmart is getting a head-start on its holiday marketing strategy. The company dropped prices on a number of items beginning on Friday and is launching multiple technology tools to help consumers shop for holiday gifts.

Why we should care

In addition to the headstart on holiday deals, one of the biggest shifts in retail is in giving consumers more ways to shop.

Walmart’s technology-enabled holiday shopping options are aimed at saving consumers time through personalization, faster delivery and more in-store and mobile capabilities. They include:

  • Personalized gift recommendations. A Gift Finder tool curates gift ideas based on 40 different types of gift recipients and price range.
  • Mobile shopping: A scannable toy catalog, launching November 1 in the Walmart app, will enable consumers to shop the company’s seasonal toy catalog from their phones.
  • In-store options: DotCom Store and “Check out with me” services are expanding to all Walmart Supercenters. “Check out with me” lets customers check out with an associate and avoid cashier lines. DotCom Store allows shoppers to place online orders in stores and have the items shipped to their homes.
  • Next-day delivery battle. To compete with Amazon, Walmart’s free one-day delivery is available for hundreds of thousands of items. It’s now being offered free without a membership fee, unlike Amazon, which is offering one-day shipping for Prime members on many items.

Walmart and other retailers’ jump on the holiday season is an indication that the shopping cycle could look different than in year’s past. Consumers are also indicating they’ll be shopping earlier this season, according to a Deloitte survey, which found that holiday shopping is expected to peak in early to mid-December. With six fewer shopping days than last year, marketers should be rolling out holiday deals now.

More on the news

  • To drive shoppers into stores, Walmart is launching “retailtainment events” around this year’s Pokemon, Star Wars, Frozen movies.
  • Best Buy is also offering free next day delivery on thousands of items to kick off its holiday shopping season.
  • Target announced it was investing $50 million to increase employee hours and training during the coming weeks to prepare for this year’s holiday season.


About The Author

Amy Gesenhues is a senior editor for Third Door Media, covering the latest news and updates for Marketing Land, Search Engine Land and MarTech Today. From 2009 to 2012, she was an award-winning syndicated columnist for a number of daily newspapers from New York to Texas. With more than ten years of marketing management experience, she has contributed to a variety of traditional and online publications, including MarketingProfs, SoftwareCEO, and Sales and Marketing Management Magazine. Read more of Amy’s articles.