Public Relations & Social Marketing Insight

It was yet another great quarter in the world of US retail e-commerce. Revenue was up by 11.8 percent year over year, and transactions increased nearly the same amount (11.6 percent) over Q3 2014.

As the leaves begin to change color and the sun begins to set on 2015, let’s take a look at some of the trends leading the way into Q4 and this year’s holiday shopping season.

These finding below are based on the Custora E-Commerce Pulse, a free online dashboard tracking online transactions from more than 500 million shoppers, $100 billion in e-commerce revenue, and 200+ online retailers....

While recovering from the holiday rush, retailers can look back at this season’s trends to discover new ways to fuel customer engagement and drive loyalty in the next year. Using real-time analytics, SAP uncovered a wealth of insights about consumers’ attitudes and desires that retailers can use all year long.

We have found that simply listening to what people are already saying provides powerful insights into their attitudes and behaviors. And consumers had plenty to say this holiday season: Shoppers shared their opinions and chronicled their actions with more than 28 million mentions online, an 8% increase over last year, according to SAP analytics.

Holiday shoppers tweeted more than 28 million mentions about their gift purchases- up 8% YoY via @SAP_Retail

Using social media analytics, we combed through the social chatter this holiday season to discover what consumers said – and what they actually did. We found some interesting trends, revealing consumers’ changing tactics and suggesting retailers must respond with different strategies of their own....

The American economy depends mightily on consumer spending, so this report bodes well for a healthier 2016, economists say. The wage gap and the economy’s failure to produce adequate income improvements even in a healthier economy have stymied spending for months. But that’s recently been changing, as reflected in this report.

Although there seems to be an increase in disposable income and wages, that could be a problem for retailers as more consumers are choosing to spend on experiences instead of accumulating material objects. Younger shoppers are especially prone to spending on experiences, according to a PwC survey published last year, which found that millennials said that more than half (52%) of their holiday spending would be experience-related, compared to 39% for older consumers. 

Consumers are also choosing to save or pay off debt rather than spend, and when they do, they are increasingly favoring investing in home improvements. Retailers' recent earnings reports reflected these trends, as apparel-heavy retailers like Macy's, Kohl's, and J. Crew reported disappointing results while home improvement retailers beat expectations. These changes are forcing legacy retailers to reconsider their marketing strategies and physical stores, offering more value to the consumer with no-cost online resources and free in-store events....

Luxury in the form of premium experiences are seeing the most action in terms of spending, while high-end goods are lagging in comparison, according to new findings from a study by Boston Consulting Group.

The key finding of BCG’s Luxe Redux report is that there has been a shift in spending habits, where 55 percent of spending comes from luxury experiences rather physical goods. In addition, experiential luxury purchases grew 50 percent faster worldwide year over year than sales of luxury goods.

Adobe has released its 2014 Digital Index Online Shopping Forecast for this year’s holiday season, with a visual summary in video form and highlights in the graphs below.

Adobe data predicts online prices will hit rock bottom on Thanksgiving Day, lower than any other day during the holiday season.

Record sales of $1.35 billion are expected on Thanksgiving Day, a 27 percent increase over last year. Sales on Cyber Monday are forecasted to be $2.6 billion, an increase of 15 percent.

Black Friday is predicted to be the fastest growing online sales day of the year at $2.48 billion, an increase of 28 percent.

And what will consumers be buying? Social media buzz for Apple’s iPhone 6 and 6+, Sony’s PlayStation 4, Fitbits and Disney’s ‘Frozen’ dolls are driving early interest.