Consumers’ Online Behavior in 2013 Year-end holiday season
Hey guys,
As online marketers, we all want to see significant growth in November and December sales because it is the peak of holiday spending season. That make these two months become the busiest businesses period during the year. Who doesn’t want the secrets to maximize their sales and conversion rates? Who doesn’t want to be in Customers’ top of mind and out of the crowd when every store and brand is trying to give away big offers and promotions. If you want some clues for a successful Holiday Sales season, you must first understand your shoppers Preferences, Intentions and Devices, then carry out suitable programs to get their engagement with your store/brand. That is what stated in Burst Media consumer holiday survey conducted in October 2013 over 993 adults (US-based, online, aged 18 or over). Follow the key findings of the survey and I will reveal some pro-tips to help boost your marketing. Online Preferences in Shopping Season 2013
Most people start shopping after Thanksgiving
Many people (39% of respondents) have bought gifts since Halloween, but many more people decide to start after Thanksgiving and there are event 17% of the people surveyed will start shopping at the last minute.
Despite economy crises, there were still 2/3 of surveyed people planning to spend more or the same for holiday gifts, compared to 2012. Besides, 46.9% plan to spend about the same, and 22.6% plan to spend less this year.
So what? This means marketers still have time in hand to take action. And you can certainly raise your budget and offer holiday gifts to your consumers.
Pro-tip: Offer promotional gifts or free gift wrapping services to gain added values to your Customers shopping baskets.
Mobile devices are more and more popular for shopping
This year survey see a burst in online shopping via mobile devices. It shows that 92% of holiday shoppers will go online in some capacity on one or more devices to research gifts and/or make purchases. 45% of respondents will use a smartphone for holiday shopping (a 51% INCREASE from 2012), whereas 41% of respondents will use a tablet for holiday shopping (a 190% INCREASE from 2012).
So what? If your web store are not optimized for mobile device yet, start optimizing it right away or you will lose points against competitors.
Pro-tip: Use responsive design and improve user experience and administration accessibility for your website. Test and test over again on different devices and screen sizes.
Mobile shopping apps now play a bigger role than ever
4 in 5 mobile users say they use shopping apps in some capacity to browse and/or make purchases. More than a half of women and nearly 42% men use mobile shopping apps at least somewhat frequently. Their biggest expectations about shopping online or via mobile apps during holiday are relaxing, convenient and efficient.
So what? Go mobile! Take mobile apps into consideration in your business strategies and tactics.
Pro-tip: Convert your store into free shopping mobile apps and publish them to app stores.
Mobile Devices Aid with Shopping in Physical Retail Locations
Nearly a half shoppers use mobile devices inside of physical stores to research and compare prices, features and reviews of the stores and brands, some others use mobile device for special promo or reward program.
So what? Provide as full and correct details about your products and services as possible on your website, even comparisons among brands or competitors. And make sure these pieces of information display well on mobile devices.
Pro-tip: Filter your products by brand price, feature, etc. and make it easy for customers to select and compare them among a variety of specifications. Those above are most important findings and ideas we can conclude from Burst Media’s survey. They also created a cool infographic illustrating the survey results.
Over to you
No more doubt! It is the right time for you to equip your web store with necessary plugins and extensions, including mobile commerce solutions. Are you operating a Magento website? It’s so nice. Magestore is now offering a big Thanksgiving program exclusively for you. You can buy any Magento extension: SimiCart, Reward Points, Affiliate Plus and their plugins, Mobile Sales Tracking, Inventory Management, Gift Card, Gift Wrap+, Promotional Gifts+, and more at a hot 15% discount. Purchase just once and you can actively improve sales in all the next big events: Christmas, New Year, Valentine, and so on.
Join us right away as we only have a few day left.
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