The online shopping phenomenon continues apace, garnering a record $110.6 billion already this holiday season - up 18% from this time last year.
As brick-and-mortar retail underwent a serious diagnostic last year, big-box retailers such as Target
"Weary holiday shoppers continue to look for alternatives to crowded stores, long lines and empty shelves in the final push to Christmas," said Taylor Schreiner of Adobe Digital Insights. "Retailers who can offer the easiest shopping experience, whether through excellent use of data to anticipate shoppers' needs or by providing an option for picking up products at brick-and-mortar stores, are the ones people are flocking to this week."
"Click and collect" orders - in which shoppers order online but pick up their items from a given location - has surged by 47% since last year. Though this is not a new delivery option, it's become quite a trend this year. Orders solely from mobile transactions constituted $33 billion of revenue this year.
Overall, the projection for revenue by the end of this season by Adobe Analytics is around $126 billion.
This year, Super Saturday itself is expected to reign in a whopping 44% of total shoppers. Super Saturday sales are expected to surge this year because Christmas falls on a Tuesday, meaning Saturday is the ideal time to shop before holiday travel.
"If Super Saturday occurs and Christmas is Sunday, then it slows it down. It's hard to buy gifts when you're on an airplane," Customer Growth Partners' Craig Johnson said. "The classic weekend is perfectly situated for all these procrastinators."
Low fuel prices and higher wages, as well as a larger labor force in general, are factors boosting the strong sales.
- https://www.cnbc.com/2018/12/20/online-spending-surges-18percent-to-a-record-110point6-billion.html
- https://www.foxbusiness.com/retail/us-online-holiday-sales-surpass-100b-shatter-record
- https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-12-19/this-saturday-not-black-friday-is-when-the-real-money-is-spent