Thanksgiving weekend has come and gone, and analysts have crunched the numbers to understand how much was spent, where it was spent, and who made more significant profits. It’s also essential to look at other trends from that weekend to understand how consumers shop and what is pushing them toward a purchase. With a few weeks until Christmas, you can put these takeaways to good use to sell more during the rest of the holiday season!
Mobile Mojo
This Thanksgiving season saw mobile shopping grow in a big way. From using mobile devices to shop and search for products to an increased number of mobile payments, shoppers chose mobile. Mobile sales contributed close to 22% of total online sales on Black Friday, while tablets accounted for about 15% of online sales. One aspect that stood out with mobile use was speed. With mobile traffic up, average page response times were as high as 8 seconds, indicating that retailers may not have been ready for the mobile onslaught.
What it means for you: Focus on hand-held devices. Implement a sound technology and marketing strategy already, then work on it. Get your responsive design in place, downsize those large photos and videos, and test page load times on mobile devices. If shoppers use their smartphones and tablets, you do not want to drive them away by having a poor mobile experience.
Retargeting
Thanksgiving also saw an increased number of retargeting campaigns. This can be an effective way to get shoppers back to your site and your deals. But on crucial shopping days, sending out more than one email can cause you to get dumped into the spam folder.
What it means for you: Retargeting is necessary- but you need to use it wisely and in just the right amount to reap benefits. Your holiday shoppers will be inundated with emails, so you need to craft a personal message that speaks to their needs and purchases.
Social Media Referrals
An interesting statistic came through over the Thanksgiving weekend: holiday shoppers referred from Pinterest spent almost 80% more per order than those who were referred via Facebook. Average Pinterest referral spends were above $90, much higher than the Facebook average of $52.
What it means for you: Get on Pinterest! Not only is it visually driven and eye-catching, but it also offers easy sharing among users – and the domino effect of a single pin can bring you more sales.
If you aren’t using some of these tactics already, don’t worry! You still have a few more weeks to reach out to your consumers aggressively. When you partner with a fulfillment expert like Speed Commerce, you get more time to focus on the above trends. We can handle complex fulfillment, returns & exchanges, personalized packaging, order processing, customer care, and shipping- literally everything that takes place from the moment an order is placed.