Analyzing the trends of customers can help eCommerce stores prepare for the big days of the year. The holidays are huge for retailers and online stores but you will miss out on maximizing your sales if you aren’t ready.
During the periods of slow sales, you should use this time to prepare for the peak season. You can test new tactics, find growth opportunities, build brand awareness, ramp up your SEO efforts. If you build up a solid foundation, when it comes time for the holiday shopping madness, you’ll be able to successfully maximize on it. Remember, you only reap what you sow.
These top Holiday Spending Statistics can help you get an early start on preparing for the holidays.
We’ve picked the top holidays you need to be prepared for based on statistics published by NRF and Prosper Insights & Analytics.
Halloween is one of the most awaited holidays for kids and adults! From scary costumes and decor to yummy treats and fun celebrations, what’s not to like about Halloween!
Spends for Halloween 2019 have been predicted to touch $8.8 billion. The top spending categories include costumes ($3.2 billion), candy ($2.6 billion), decorations ($2.7 billion) and greeting cards ($390 million).
On average an individual will spend $86 on Halloween this year. With every holiday, there are a set of customers who start their shopping well ahead of time and then there are those who wait for the last minute. Here are some recent statistics on customer shopping times:
For eCommerce owners, it’s a big shopping event that you can capitalize on. There are a number of industries that benefit from this holiday as customers look to buy pumpkins, candy, costumes, gifts, pet costumes, and home decor.
They also shop for groceries and supplies for their parties. Lastly, they visit theme parks, haunted houses and other thrilling adventure outings in keeping with the festivities.
Father’s Day was not so popular a decade ago. But since 2009, it has been consistently growing into a big special event, shooting up by 70% growth (approximately $6.6 billion) over the years.
When it comes to Father’s Day, the biggest spenders are consumers between the ages of 35 and 44 years.
45% of people say they shop for something unique, while a third of them show interest in subscription boxes. 47% of people said they plan on gifting a special outing to their dad.
The total expected spends for 2019 is $16 billion with an average planned spending per person touching $139.
Top spending categories include apparel, memorable outings, and gift cards. You can start preparing well in advance to offer customizable options on your products, combo gift sets, and discounts closer to the date.
The day of love, Valentine’s Day at its peak saw 60% of the American population jumping on board to celebrate it. That number has now dropped to half. Many said it was due to over-commercialization of ‘love’, or they didn’t have anyone to celebrate with, or their interest in the special day just disappeared.
However, those who still celebrate the day spend even bigger amounts than before. Those surveyed said they would spend $161.96 on Valentine’s. And what’s more important to note is that people have broken away from ‘Valentine’s being about a partner, and have expanded it to family, friends, co-workers, classmates and even their pets.
For eCommerce stores, this is a big plus as the gifting possibilities are endless. While jewelry, flowers, greeting cards, and candy are the traditional ones, many turns to newer gifting ideas such as experiences, vacations, customized gift sets, concert tickets, spa vouchers, and the like.
Easter shopping is fueled by a number of reasons, the top two being to keep up the tradition (65%) and discounts (31%).
Customers planned to spend an average of $151 for Easter 2019. Eight out of 10 adults planned to celebrate Easter in the U.S., however, those who don’t celebrate still buy Easter treats and also shop during seasonal sales.
Retailers should focus on mobile, as it was estimated 74% of people will base their purchasing decisions through their smartphones in 2019.
Easter is a holiday for all ages, therefore, eCommerce merchants can target a wide range of customers.
Mother’s Day has always stood out as an extra special day to appreciate moms. So shoppers look for something that meets that ‘extra special’ criterion.
In 2019, it was estimated that Mother’s Day sales will touch a record of $25 billion. A whopping 84% of people in the U.S. said they would celebrate the day. The average customer spend is $196 compared to $180 in 2018.
ECommerce stores shouldn’t miss out on this big day as shoppers are ever ready to spend big-time on the one who gave them life. 44% say they shop for something unique or something that will make her feel loved.
Traditional gifts still do well and include jewelry, flowers, and greeting cards, but there is also a growing trend in new-age gifting. This includes gifting them personal services, electronics, gift cards, apparel, and outings.
Plan your sales and strategies well ahead for this one as Mother’s Day usually brings in a drastic increase in traffic and sales.
According to Google, retail had its largest season ever in 2018 with $853 billion in sales! Winter holidays are the biggest time of the year for shoppers and merchants. Statistics show that 56% of the time was spent on online shopping and 53% of purchases reported were made online.
There was also a dramatic shift to mobile usage as 61% of online purchases took place through phones. 60% of consumers used a mobile app to shop for the holidays.
Google says that search queries for ‘gifts for’ and ‘gifts from’ start accelerating from as early as the last week of October. This shows that winter holiday shoppers begin planning well in advance.
The average planned spend per person for 2019 is an incredible $1,007.24, making it the biggest shopping event of the year!
An interesting fact to note is that last-minute shoppers amount to only 7%, and after-Christmas shoppers are at 4%. The majority of customers wrap up their shopping early and are ready for the season.
As an eCommerce store, targeting customers before Christmas would be more fruitful than targeting them on Christmas Day itself.
Gifts that top the list for the holidays include clothing, gift cards, toys, video games, books, movies, food, electronics, and related accessories. Gifting experiences such as cooking classes, spa treatments, tickets to games/concerts are growing in popularity.
To make the most of these holidays, planning ahead is key! Some of the steps you absolutely must take to make your online store more alluring are:
Word of advice, preparation makes all the difference. To sum up, for the holidays, analyzing the needs and trends of customers will help you strategize and make the most of these big-spending days!
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