At Digilant we are getting into the holiday spirit, and want everyone else to join us. We have put together an infographic and report that gives predictions and highlights trends around consumer behavior for the 2018 holiday shopping season. This report will help advertisers and media buyers gain additional insights for their digital marketing strategies.
Every year it seems as though the holiday sales and promotions start earlier, spending increases and people shift their purchase locations and behavior. All these changes at such an essential part of the year can become overwhelming. Digilant has outlined all the 2018 holiday shopping predictions – from when people are shopping, how to reach them on mobile and how Ecommerce powerhouse Amazon is going to affect this year’s sales and advertising for other retails.
Download the infographic here.
Who Will You See Spending This Season?
Last year, the National Retail Federation reported $691.1 billion in consumer spending. With this much opportunity, it is essential for advertisers to understand the shoppers – who’s shopping, when they’re shopping and where they are making purchases. Having a strong grasp of this information, enables advertisers and media planners to use programmatic tactics that will drive sales sales.
Who’s Shopping?
There are slightly more women than men that will be shopping this year. Within this group of shoppers, nearly half (47%) of shoppers fall between the ages of 25 and 44. There are a multiple reasons that this age range is dominating shopping this season, however the popularity in toys is greatly influencing this demographic. Obviously toys have always been a gift-favorite, however last year the toy category had highest conversion lift during the holiday season, with a 605% increase. People in this age demographic are purchasing toys with video games included, for themselves, their significant others or their children. It is important for advertisers to not only look at demographics during the holiday season, people’s searches and research for products may not only be for themselves, but other people. Expanding advertising beyond the general demographics can be a successful tactic to explore during the holidays. 
When Are They Shopping?
As stated above, it seems as though the holiday season starts earlier every year. This year will be no different, as Black Friday is projected to dominate the shopping timeline, as the day with both the highest sales and highest online traffic. However, Thanksgiving has become a very popular day for people to shop, so much so that Thanksgiving now sees more revenue than Cyber Monday. Surprisingly, in 2017, Thanksgiving saw the highest day of mobile sales of the season, at $624 million and the highest order value. This season has the most possible days between Thanksgiving and Christmas. With a longer timeline than usual, advertisers need a detailed, organized, reliable plan to ensure that the season has no advertising blemishes. Even though the days around Thanksgiving see a significant amount of shopping, 32% of people continue their holiday shopping into December, creating an entire holiday season of opportunities.
Where Are They Shopping?
Online and traditional retailers will again be the two most popular places for shoppers to make purchases this season. It is essential for advertisers to track both consumer journey paths and how they cross with one another. This will ensure that advertisers are reaching consumers at the right moment, propelling them to a purchase decision.
Digilant combines both people and technology to create a perfect blend of strategy and insight for advertisers. We create efficiencies in media buying, enabling marketers to use data as a currency to make better informed decisions, optimize and drive performance across all digital channels and campaigns. Interested in learning more? Reach out to us here.
Want more? Check out part 2 of our Holiday Shopping Insights series here.