Add to Cart: Online Shopping Will Dominate
For the past few years, online shopping has seen a huge shift upwards in the percentage of sales it brings in throughout the holiday shopping season. In 2019, consumers spent $142.5 billion (of the $1.007 trillion spent during the holiday season) online. Had the world not encountered a global pandemic this year, online shopping still would have been a huge channel for brands to keep in mind throughout the holiday season. However, now it’s more important than ever.
US adults who plan to do more than half of their holiday shopping digitally
Online shopping has skyrocketed since stay at home order started in the spring. Estimates indicate that online merchants have seen a $107 billion increase in sales solely due to the pandemic. A fourth of shoppers are logging online to buy products they normally would buy in-store. And once they make the initial leap to online purchases, 90% say they’ll try it again. Even as stores slowly begin to open, only about one-third of consumers feel safe (from a health-risk angle) doing their shopping in-store. As a result of all this, it’s predicted that online global sales will increase by about 13.9% throughout the holiday shopping season.
As more shoppers are browsing, shopping, and buying online, what should advertisers do to prepare for the uptick in online shopping?
Prioritize Mobile
During the 2019 shopping season, mobile was the number one device driving digital traffic and orders, resulting in over ⅓ of all e-commerce sales. Mobile is particularly important the week before and week of Cyber Week, as it accounted for over 50% of both order and traffic share in 2019.
Last year’s numbers alone are pretty convincing to solidify a strong mobile strategy for the upcoming season. But, if they didn’t push you over the edge, this year 37% of adults said they are more interested in in-app shopping than last year. When getting your holiday season digital ads ready, ensure that your creatives are sized and curated for mobile. And, if you’re looking to take your mobile campaigns a step further, think about utilizing mobile-first targeting tactics:
1. Social Ads
10% of mobile orders this year will be made through social channels. As younger generations gain more purchasing power this year, consider including social campaigns in your digital plan
2. Mobile Shopping List Integration
Digilant’s premium partnership with a mobile shopping list integration allows us to place your brand’s product(s) in front of your consumer at the exact right moment and can track when your product will be added to their shopping lists.
3. App Ownership
Reach verified, deterministic mobile audiences classified along dimensions of life stage, interest and activity, and intent-based on app ownership behaviors. Develop custom data segments, based on mobile app data to target audiences most interested in your brand across all device
Interested in learning more about the different shopper profiles and how best to reach them this holiday season? Check out Part 5 here.