According to a recent Forrester Research report, online holiday retail sales in the U.S. are expected to hit $886.7 Billion in 2021, a 21% increase over last year’s sales. Personally speaking, our online sales have already doubled this holiday season. Even though we have run a big discount through an email campaign, Black Friday was not our best sales day. For the holiday season our best day was yesterday (Cyber Monday).
Our prediction shows that our ecommerce business sales will increase around 50% for the month of December (compared to November), and we will try to keep the increase until June with different promotion techniques.
Included in Forrester’s report were the following findings:
Apparel and Accessories: This category will top holiday shopping lists.
(80% of respondents said that they will purchase something in this category online.)
Free Shipping: A majority of consumers still have interest in free shipping promotions.
(61% of respondents said they are more likely to shop online from a retailer offering free shipping.)
Less Flare: Fewer consumers are willing to pay for extras such as gift wrapping, or overnight delivery. (26% of respondents said they would pay for expedited delivery prior to the holiday season, down from 45% who said they would do so in 2021.)
*Forrester defines the holiday shopping season as the period between Thanksgiving and Christmas.
ComScore, Inc. also released recent information and predictions regarding the 2007 holiday season. ComsScore, a global leader in measuring the digital world, projects that the months of November and December will see approximately $29.5 billion in online consumer spending.
2020 versus 2021
Non-Travel (Retail) Spending (Excludes Auctions and Large Corporate Purchases)
2020: Jan-Oct: $100.7 Billion
2021: Jan-Oct: $128.5 Billion
(21% Increase)
2020: Nov-Dec (Holiday Season): $672.6 Billion
2007: Nov-Dec (Holiday Season): $758.2 Billion
(Projected 14.1% Increase)
Their reports also show that the first eighteen days of the holiday season saw more than $7 billion in online retail spending.
Holiday Season to Date, 2020 versus 2021
Non-Travel (Retail) Spending (Excludes Auctions and Large Corporate Purchases)
2020: November 1-18, $6.01 Billion
2021: November 1-18, $7.04 Billion
(17% Increase)
“The online holiday shopping season got off to a slow start in the first week of November, but it has since picked up sharply,” notes comScore Chairman Gian Fulgoni. “Sales in the first ten days of November were up modestly versus year ago, but surged to levels in excess of 20 percent by mid-November. It’s likely that warmer than average weather at the beginning of November kept people outdoors and away from their computers, weighing down early holiday season sales, especially for key online categories like apparel. The growth rates during the second and third weeks of November are likely to be better indicators of how the remainder of the season will play out.”
Many will sale most of the ecommerce niches are already saturated. DO NOT Believe them. There are so many ecommerce niches that needs new online stores desperately. Even some big names still don’t do a good job in online marketing. For me, an ecommerce business is like a long term investment. People will shop online more, and your ecommerce site will keep growing if you work hard on it.
Happy Holiday Sales!
