The month of November continued to see steady growth, with e-commerce sales increasing 9% YoY compared to November 2021, following the 6% increase from October.

We forecasted stronger e-commerce growth this year, as 2022 marks the first true post-pandemic holiday season and people are striving for a return to normalcy. People are celebrating the season with dinners, gifts, and events, leading to an increase in e-commerce sales to furnish the festivities.

Overall, Cyber 5 2022 was stronger than expected”, says Udayan Bose, our Founder and CEO. “Cyber 5 shifted the e-commerce landscape, as some advertisers pulled back on their spend. This allowed others to gain a greater share of voice and engage new customers for a record-breaking Black Friday and Cyber Monday, validating the notion that you shouldn’t cut back on marketing during a slowdown.”

15th Annual Cyber 5 Report

For our 15th annual Cyber 5 report, NetElixir’s Retail Intelligence Lab captured the hourly data across each day from Thanksgiving to Cyber Monday and compared sales volume, average order value (AOV), conversions, and more to last year’s data. We captured data separately across 6 retail categories to see how, when, and where customers were searching and shopping. All told, we analyzed over 70 million sessions across this five-day period. (This granular data is made possible through our AI-driven digital marketing platform, LXRInsights, which helps us find and engage high-value customers.)

The central region of America had the highest YoY growth at 15%, as depicted in the map below:

How E-Commerce Sales Grew During Cyber 5 2022

This year, Black Friday had the highest AOV out of the five days. However, Cyber Monday orders contributed slightly more to the overall Cyber 5 orders and revenue. Beauty and Apparel retail categories had the highest YoY revenue growth, at 22% and 16% respectively. 

Overall dayparting was a crucial aspect of this year’s Cyber 5; advertisers were more prudent in where and when they allocated spend to attract and convert customers. Nearly 37% of customers shopped between noon and 6 PM.

Mobile sales accounted for 58% of sitewide orders during Cyber 5. Mobile’s AOV was 25% lower than desktop’s AOV. Most mobile orders came on Thanksgiving Day and the least on Cyber Monday. People were probably trying to place quick, discreet orders while celebrating Thanksgiving dinner, thus relying more on their mobile devices. Mobile also accounted for the majority of clicks across retail categories within our dataset, meaning that people were more likely to research gift ideas and brands’ offers on their phone.

Channel-Specific Cyber 5 Trends

Amazon Trends

Advertisers who offered a holiday-specific deal during Cyber 5 earned a significant boost in performance across all e-commerce metrics, from conversions to sales, compared to brands who did not offer a promotion. AOV increased even with deals, as it prompted shoppers to also buy higher-priced products and order more units per order. The budget-conscious trend we have noticed throughout the year, amid lingering uncertainty and inflation increases, continued throughout the holiday season, as customers aim to secure the best deal available.

Amazon’s Prime Early Access Sale event in mid-October kick-started the holiday shopping spree. We expect that over 35% of Prime customers may have completed their holiday shopping prior to Cyber 5.

Google Advertising Trends

Performance Max campaigns accounted for 48% of paid search orders during Cyber 5. This is a phenomenal stat considering that Performance Max campaigns didn’t exist just ten months ago! Next holiday season, Performance Max could account for nearly all of paid search orders. If there is any hesitancy about using Performance Max campaigns, let this year’s Cyber 5 results remove all doubt; this AI-driven campaign module is here to stay as the default campaign type as Google continues to improve its efficiency. 

We also observed less advertising competition this year compared to last year. Amid the uncertainty or considering the pull of in-store shopping, some advertisers pulled back on their digital spend. This created a tremendous opportunity for brands to gain a greater share of voice and engage new customers during this critical period. 

This year showed a great opportunity to seize significant wins in categories like apparel and gifting since there were fewer advertisers. Incremental investment to win impression share surprisingly fell during Cyber 5 for both categories.

How Cyber 5 Impacts The Rest of The Holiday Season

While a 9% YoY increase in November’s online sales is great news for holiday retailers, the growth is likely to be slower in December as retailers relax their discounts and consumer demand drops. Most retailers offered heavy discounts throughout the month of November to ramp up holiday demand. The benefit of discounts cannot be understated during critical holiday periods to attract and convert customers. 

Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) sales saw explosive increase during November. BNPL is incentivizing incremental consumer spending (and, often, spending beyond your means), so should be used strategically to engage customers.

From this data, NetElixir is maintaining our original 2022 holiday retail sales growth prediction of 7% YoY growth. 

Brands should use the success of Cyber 5 to leverage continued engagement and consider their post-holiday strategy. This is an important time to collect and use first-party data to better understand your customers and their expectations for the new year.

Watch our full analysis now:

Further Reading

• Could We See Cyber 5 Turn Into Cyber 6?
• The 2023 E-Commerce SEO Strategy: How To Stay On Top Of The Search Engines
• What’s Trending? The Importance of Trend Research In Your Marketing Strategy

The post Cyber 5: Results, Insights, and Trends appeared first on NetElixir.

In this brighter and more hopeful future, we move relentlessly forward on the path to recovery. We left behind a year of uncertainty and difficulty, a year that required us to pivot from known strategies and tactics to try something new. We emerge more connected, more conscious, and more compassionate. These concepts will carry us through the new year and beyond. 

What Lies Ahead in 2021

The age of digitization is fully upon us. Consumers have more information than ever at their fingertips and are spending more time researching prior to purchasing. As we understand more about our customers – who they are and how they shop – we as marketers can create more personalized and targeted messaging.

A key marketing strategy for 2021 is adaptability. Opportunities will come and go quickly and retail marketers need to be able to pivot quickly to explore these chances. As such, data-driven solutions will drive us forward. Online events and interactions will remain the norm for some time, but marketers and retailers still need to showcase a human side behind the screen. Our messaging should focus on starting conversations and discussions, of creating a dialogue between us and our customers to be able to better serve them.

Adapting to New Consumer Behavior

The coronavirus pandemic created a boom in online shopping unlike anything we have seen before. New shopper personas are constantly emerging and old personas are constantly evolving as online trends shift and consumers gain more online experience. Pandemic-led shoppers tend to research more and at greater depths prior to making a purchase. During the pandemic, the latency period (time before first website landing and first purchase) went down 10-22% compared to pre-pandemic latency across retail categories. However, people were visiting the website more frequently as they conducted more in-depth research.

These shoppers are focused on value – both economic and social. Modern consumers are frugal; they are breaking brand loyalty in favor of what is available and what is a good deal. Moreso, Gen Z and Millennials expect brands to take a stand on important social issues beyond something performative.

A social-conscious shopper is emerging, as these shoppers prefer to engage with brands who speak up on social issues. Being silent or neutral is no longer a lucrative option for retailers and businesses.

Emotions have always been a driving force behind purchases, but what emotional states and expectations take priority are changing. Namely, consumers are choosing brands and products that promote safety, wellness, and hope and inspiration. These feelings vary by individual so discover what makes your ideal buyer persona feel safe, healthy, and hopeful; use that messaging in your marketing and reinforce the sentiment throughout your brand story.

While the coronavirus pandemic forced a binary of essential vs. nonessential goods and services, what exactly is an essential need also varies by individual. Throughout 2020, NetElixir noted an e-commerce surge in retail industries like pet supplies, home décor, and DIY tools that helped people adjust to the lifestyle changes caused by the pandemic and shutdowns. Hubspot projects that 2021 marketing will be more empathetic. Consumers will resonate with brands and products that continue to offer help and support.

NetElixir’s Predictions on Emerging E-Commerce Trends

The new-to-online shoppers acquired during the coronavirus pandemic exhibit unique behaviors and patterns. As a demographic largely unversed in online shopping, they flocked to e-commerce stores once in-store shopping wasn’t an option. Having crossed that initial online barrier, they are an untapped resource to building your retail brand and e-commerce revenue – as long as you know how to reach them. Therefore, while live consumer data has always been important, it is crucial now more than ever in truly understanding your customer’s needs, wants, and purchase journey in order to meet them at every turn and create a seamless shopping experience.

Mobile engagement is soaring. Mobile sales accounted for 43% of all orders in February, 2020; by December, it was over 55%. Mobile devices now drive over 72% of all website sessions. The reign of desktop may well be over. 

As increased digitization becomes the norm, extended and augmented reality will become an important tool in consumer engagement to extend the retail shopping experience. Consumers may still be hesitant to shop in-store for some time, but still want to simulate that shopping experience or look for something new entirely. 

The role of gaming will increase in 2021. Gaming quickly became a popular hobby during 2020 as a way to pass time, connect with others, and learn new skills. Advertisers and marketers will want to take advantage of this growing platform to reach younger demographics, gain brand visibility, and explore a whole new market.

The most important characteristic a marketer can have, however, is creativity and agility. Through experimentation and innovation, we can discover new ways to meaningfully interact with and help our customers and each other so we can all make 2021 a better year.

Further Resources

For an in-depth discussion of these trends and more, join NetElixir’s brand new webinar, The Future of Retail ECommerce: Trends and Predictions for 2021. We will be live on Thursday, January 14th at 2 PM ET with Udayan Bose, NetElixir’s Founder and CEO, to explore:

• Why rapid experimentation and creativity are key to effective consumer marketing. 
• Who is the new pandemic shopper, what defines their consumer behavior and persona, and how your strategy should target them.
• Why value-conscious shoppers care about a brand’s stance on social issues.
• Emerging technologies you should leverage for a seamless virtual shopping experience.

Register Now

Read more on eCommerce trends:

• Holiday E-Commerce Sales
• Cyber 5: Results, Insights, and Trends

The post 2021 Marketing Trends for Retailers appeared first on NetElixir.

On Thursday, December 17th, NetElixir partnered with BWG Strategy for our last webinar of the year. NetElixir’s Founder and CEO, Udayan Bose, presented 2021 Brand Playbook: Holiday Insights, Real Time E-Commerce Sales Data, and Digital Consumer Behavior.

Holiday Data

NetElixir’s Retail Intelligence Lab analyzed the holiday e-commerce sales data from November 1st to December 15th, comparing it to the daily data of the same period in 2019 to see the YoY trends and growth. We wanted to see if and how customers continued shopping post-Cyber 5. 

The strong December e-commerce sales numbers helped to boost the total YoY online sales growth between November 1 until now to upwards of 30%. NetElixir saw “explosive growth” after the Cyber 5 holiday concluded, remarks Bose. This first week of December had more than double the growth compared to the same post-Cyber 5 period from any year since 2016. While 2020’s Cyber 5 was more muted compared to previous years, the first 15 days of December saw exceptionally strong growth compared to last year:

Advertisements early in November prompted shoppers to get a head start on their holiday shopping to ensure timely deliveries. October’s Prime Day event – which boasted Black Friday-like deals – may have resulted in the lower-than-expected Cyber 5 growth. As deals continued or evolved in the post-Cyber 5 December (lasting largely until December 6th), consumers still opted to shop at their own leisure.

Cyber 5 Results

Cyber Monday had the highest conversion rate within the holiday season period under study; however, the day also had a lower visitor and buy rate. Those that did elect to shop on Cyber Monday converted quickly, but many consumers were not even shopping or searching online. Cyber Monday’s growth had a slow start, only picking up speed after 3 PM (local time). 

The draw of Cyber Monday may have been a bit diluted this year, as sales largely did not change from Black Friday to Cyber Monday. #BlackFriday had more buzz on Twitter than #CyberMonday at about 2.5X more message volume. Sales may not have been as lucrative on Cyber Monday, leading shoppers to be tired of repetitive promotions.

New products accounted for a large percentage of the Cyber 5 revenue share, as shown below:

“Brands that failed to share something new lost out – people craved novelty,” Bose explains. 

Emerging E-Commerce Trends for the New Year

We are entering a new era of online retail. Some emerging trends extrapolated from this year’s holiday e-commerce sales data are:

Needs Prevail over Wants: The pandemic has led to a shift in buying preferences towards essential product categories (ex. Food and Grocery, Pet Supplies) and currently relevant product categories (ex. Home Furnishings, Home Decor). This, however, is not fixed, as needs and wants are not concretely defined across all shoppers; each individual has their own considered essential items that they will continue to buy and search for. Marketers should curtail their product messages to showcase the utilitarian aspects of their products.

Shopping Fatigue or Lack of Novelty: There are signs that shopping fatigue may be setting in for many categories (like Apparel, for instance) that experienced a YoY decline in both new shoppers and revenue. However, this may also be due to a lack of novelty in promotions and products. Cyber Monday promotions were just a carry over from Black Friday, showing nothing new. Always-on customers want something new, something fresh, or to see a better deal. Marketers should keep rotating sales or featured products in order to keep customers’ attention.

The Latency Challenge: There were more frequent website visits in a shorter amount of time. Shoppers visited websites more frequently (+13% YoY), within a shorter span of time between first visit and purchase (-7% YoY). However, fewer shoppers purchased in the non-essential categories. For example, latency in the beauty category went down by 19% (204 to 166 minutes) between first website visit and purchase. 

Influence of Non-Retail: Milestone events in the non-retail space impact shopper behavior. Bigger events – such as the United States Presidential election – capture shopper’s attention away from online shopping, as well as drive up media costs. Online sales from December 11-14 grew by 70%+ YoY – which may have been influenced by the FDA’s emergency authorization for the vaccine. This positivity spike bodes well for retail sales, as consumer optimism rises, so does consumer spending beyond strictly essential categories.

Agility: Agility is a key differentiator in defining success stories. This was the most volatile holiday season that we have ever experienced. Massive unpredictability in demand made it very difficult for marketers to anticipate changes, forcing them to optimize on the fly. The NetElixir team alone had to execute over 40,000 tweaks between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday for Lenovo’s Google Ads campaigns in order to keep up with the demand fluctuations. Agile marketers are a necessity moving into 2021. 

Your 2021 Brand Playbook

Consumer preferences are continuing to evolve throughout the course of this pandemic. For a full, customized review of how your brand can be ready for the new year, schedule your complimentary consultation with our experts at https://stage.netelixir.com//2021playbook/. 

Convenience

“We don’t think the importance of convenience will diminish. A fundamental question is does your product simplify someone’s life,” Bose explains. Again, each shopper has a unique perspective on what is useful to simplifying their lives. Examine your buyer personas for how you can best simplify their day-to-day lives.

eMarketer projected 7.4 million new digital buyers in 2020. The coronavirus pandemic dramatically accelerated the digital trend – and these new-to-online shoppers are exhibiting their own unique traits and buying patterns. For instance, their average order value (AOV) is about 12% higher than the pre-pandemic shopper and 1/6th of these new shoppers have made 7+ orders in the last 6 months. This shift to digital is a once in a generation phenomenon. Pandemic shoppers are becoming their own category so marketers need to understand these shoppers’ behavior to fine-tune messaging unique to them in order to win them over. 

Convenience is a matter of the ease of online shopping and delivery, as well as the online shopping experience itself. Ensure an easy and frictionless shopping experience to welcome shoppers, new and experienced alike, to your site.

“If you take care of shoppers, if you speak to them in their language, they’re willing to shop with you,” Bose says. 

New Value

The pandemic shopper is a highly value-conscious shopper, both in terms of monetary value and social value. Gen Z shoppers, especially, consider a brand’s mission when considering a purchase. As Gen Z comes into more purchasing power, brands will no longer be able to stay silent on important social issues.

On the monetary side, thriftiness is a driving factor of younger shoppers. Thriftiness becomes a form of self-expression and a value by which individuals define themselves. Consumers are also increasingly able to compare prices and brands as they can easily jump from tab to tab. The resulting trend sees consumers continuing to seek the greatest value from every purchase.

E-Commerce sales saw a spike on November 23rd, as Black Friday promotions started. However, as those promotions didn’t change, growth declined due to stale deals:

Customers expect novelty and continuous changes in terms of products, promos, and pricing.

Give your customers a reason to keep coming back to your site. Understand what products are getting pandemic lift (i.e., skin care products rose 44% YoY and make-up kit sales declined 36%). Priorities and essential items are changing over the course of the pandemic.

Retailers and marketers should ask themselves what unique value are they sharing with their customers?

Always Connected

“Mobile has really really been a game-changer this year,” Bose explains. 

Mobile has had a huge impact on e-commerce sales, as 55% of all Cyber 5 orders came from a mobile device. Digital is an integral part of our life, as the physical and virtual world have blended. The gap between digital and physical retail experiences will slowly disappear.

The era of the always-on consumer is here. Marketers need to meaningfully and responsibly engage their consumers at every touch point.

Retail Trends

Tomorrow’s retailer has to consider today’s retail trends. Modern shoppers look for brands that offer convenience, promote a healthy lifestyle, create new value, know their customer, and have an integrated digital strategy.

The explosive growth of retail service providers will continue and co-marketing opportunities will emerge. Real-time customer intelligence and actionable insights are more critical today than ever before. Data is a must-have as trends, behaviors, and opportunities change so quickly. 

“2020 has been a year where data became 1,000 times more important,” Bose summarizes.

The post Holiday E-Commerce Sales appeared first on NetElixir.

By understanding the real data around the latest eCommerce trends and online shopping behavior, we can better navigate through this challenging year. As marketers and retailers, we have to follow where, when, and how our customers are shopping and searching online and be there for them at every turn. During this holiday season, customers are looking for an easy and seamless online shopping experience, promotions, and ways to connect more with each other. By providing a helping hand, brands can better support their customers. 

Customers’ Online Shopping Behaviors

Consumer preferences are changing at a rapid pace, based on Bain & Co.’s Elements of Value Pyramid. Customers are prioritizing safety and wellness when they shop.

“Safety has become and continues to be one of the primary drivers [of shopping behavior],” Bose says. “We have seen very specific emotional drivers play a very important role [in the buying process]. For example: reducing anxiety, as well as wellness.” 

Hope and nostalgia have also played an important role throughout the months of the coronavirus pandemic. Bose suggests that hope and safety should be retailers’ main focus, especially during the holiday season, as consumers continue to navigate new shopping situations. Consumers will remember brands that they felt safe with.

As new shopping trends and motivations continually emerge, it is hard to pin down exactly what will be the new normal. However, based on the data collected by NetElixir’s Retail Intelligence Lab so far, we see that 1 out of 8 new-to-online shoppers (i.e., those who made their first regular online purchase during the coronavirus pandemic) continue to make 50% of their purchases exclusively online for the Food and Grocery retail industry. NetElixir first marked this trend around mid-April, as lockdowns eased and people could choose to shop more freely in brick-and-mortar stores. 

Having successfully crossed the first barrier to online shopping, customers are becoming increasingly more comfortable navigating eCommerce sites. Customers are even open to exploring new brands, creating ample opportunities throughout this holiday season.

How ECommerce Trends are Evolving

Current eCommerce trends point to a sustained explosion of online sales. NetElixir’s Retail Intelligence Lab has tracked the YoY changes in online sales across seven categories for now nineteen two-week periods, starting from February 9th, detailed below:

The Food and Grocery retail category is starting to pick up momentum again, after a slight dip throughout the end of summer. Bose forecasts that Food will see a 100%+ YoY growth during the holiday season as more people prepare home-cooked meals instead of eating out. Apparel has also declined YoY from its peak in the first two weeks of September, presumably bolstered by back-to-school sales.  Home Furnishing, Tools and Hardware, and Home Décor continue to see strong YoY increases. Overall, NetElixir forecasts that the remainder of the holiday season will see online sales grow at 30% YoY across retail categories.

Prime Day 2020 helped to jumpstart an early holiday shopping season, but the online spike it generated subsided quickly. Online sales for the Food and Grocery retail industry did, however, see sustained growth, trending upwards from October 18th on, as pictured below:

While this may not be attributed solely and directly to Prime Day, as Food’s spike started a few days after the Prime Day event concluded, monitoring the residual effect of online sales events is important to monitor where else consumers shop.

Likewise, current events influence consumer’s shopping habits. Election Week in the United States did have an impact on eCommerce trends and online sales. The Gifting, Home Decor, and Tools and Hardware retail categories experienced a marginal decrease of less than 10% in eCommerce sales during Election Week compared to the week prior. Apparel, Home Furnishing, Pet Supplies, and Food and Grocery all experience substantial growth during Election Week compared to the week prior. Conversion rates across all retail categories, however, were 5% lower during Election Week than the week prior. 

“There are events of this magnitude – and Election Week was definitely an event which had a pretty massive impact and importance – which has a direct correlation with the eCommerce trends,” Bose summarizes. 

Google Ad investment will increase across businesses, as CPCs themselves are also increasing across all retail categories. As the holidays draws nearer, marketers are advertising more aggressively and earlier to avoid last-minute shipping delays.

Your 2020 Holiday ECommerce Sales Calendar

For the past 13 years, NetElixir has released an eCommerce calendar to help retailers mark important dates they should consider in their marketing strategy. Some key insights from this year’s calendar includes:

• Weeks of November 22nd and November 29th: will account for the two biggest online shopping weeks of 2020;
• Week of December 6th: most retailers will set a cut-off date for guaranteed holiday shipping (delivery by 12/24);
• Week of December 13th: BOPIS commerce will surge and most retailers will lower their digital marketing spend;
• Week of December 20th: while usually a busy week for last-minute deals and buys, it is forecasted to be the quietest week of the 2020 holiday shopping season.

Download your 2020 Holiday ECommerce Sales Calendar now at https://stage.netelixir.com//holidays/. 

Overall, NetElixir forecasts a 30% YoY aggregate growth for eCommerce sales throughout the rest of the holiday season. We forecast 45% growth in November and 20% growth in December YoY, as consumers try to get the bulk of their holiday shopping done early.

Q&A with the Vice President of Marketing at GovX

GovX is an online-only retailer, who caters exclusively to people who are currently serving or who have served in the United States Armed Forces and law enforcement, including firefighters, first responders, and other government service agencies. GovX works with over 400 brands to provide a military discount to GovX’s members. 

While Veterans Day is normally a kickoff for larger holiday events that wrap up the year for GovX, this year has obviously been different. Pelander explains that the company has been digging into holiday planning for the past month to capitalize on the early shopping season.

“This whole year has been uncertain,” Pelander says. “I think, partly, what has helped the planning for the holidays now has been more due to this year’s worth of adjustments, changes in strategy, all leading up to this point.”

GovX shifted their December budget into November and late October for aggressive paid search and social advertising to capture early shoppers sooner rather than later. New customer acquisition has still been the focus of GovX’s strategy in first generating awareness of GovX’s mission amongst veterans and first responders, and then encouraging those members to shop through the site.

“A big focus for us this year has been on new customer growth, so not just getting a new member for the sake of a new member, but we want them to make their first purchase with us within the first 30 days of their membership,” Pelander explains.

By partnering with NetElixir, GovX has been able to shift their budget and spending to target and engage new members more effectively. We have helped them expand into YouTube marketing, as GovX has focused on pressing forward to make the most of the eCommerce boom that the coronavirus pandemic has accelerated.

How has GovX Pivoted their Marketing Strategy?

Pelander explains that through strong conversion rates, the company has been able to drive up more ad spend because consumers are converting more quickly during the pandemic months than before. As long as the conversion rates continue to hold strong, GovX will continue to advertise aggressively to maximize new memberships and sales. What’s important, Pelander notes, is pushing the right promotion at the right time and to the right person. GovX’s members continue to buy for themselves even in the midst of the holidays, as they will buy from a brand they like at the right price.

GovX’s holiday messaging kicked in right around Prime Day so as not to specifically compete with the sales event, but to coincide with the flow of online traffic the event created. This holiday season started in mid-October for the brand, as they offer week-long sales that typically lasted only a day in prior years, such as extending the Veterans Day sale and Cyber 5 promotions.

What has helped GovX maintain growth throughout these past few months is their agility and drive to keep being aggressive in a time when they could reap those benefits and other companies have hesitated. Their new customer focus has become GovX’s mindset to set the tone for the first 30 days that can propel new members to become loyal customers. Pelander says the scale of data from 2020 is so immense that fully analyzing the eCommerce trends and online shopping patterns that have emerged for the company over the course of the year will help create new strategies moving forward.

“It’s been a great year for learning,” Pelander concludes.

For a Deep Dive into Other ECommerce Trends

If you have any questions about the data provided or the eCommerce sales calendar, please contact us at university@netelixir.com.

Read more:

• Get Results with Progressive Web Apps
• October 2020 Retail ECommerce YoY Insights
• Strategic Views on Peak 2020 with UPS

The post Real-Time Data on Holiday ECommerce Trends appeared first on NetElixir.