Within NetElixir’s dataset, as we tracked the daily changes in online shopping behavior and trends throughout the onset of the pandemic, we found that the gifting industry was one of the fastest-growing segments. The online gifting industry saw the biggest growth in new online shoppers within our dataset, growing 8% YoY in 2020 compared to 2019. NetElixir found that Millenials and Gen Z contributed to the pool of new online shoppers the most for the gifting industry, presumably sending gifts to their parents and grandparents.

Udayan Bose, NetElixir’s CEO and Founder surmised that the growth of online gifting came from a sense of compassion in shoppers. “Consumers showed an outpouring of compassion,” Bose said, noting that consumers were in “active gifting modes since March for about two to three months.”

The high-value shopper continued to shop with a sense of urgency and compassion to stay connected with her loved ones. NetElixir’s 2021 FACES research report delves into how high-value customers’ online shopping behavior evolved in response to the e-commerce surge sparked by the coronavirus pandemic. 

The NetElixir Retail Intelligence Lab analyzed over two million unique online consumer paths-to-purchase across ten e-commerce categories for our FACES research. Our goal was to better understand ongoing changes in the online shopping behavior and trends of high-value customers across the e-commerce landscape. We divided our data into three timeframes:

• Pre-pandemic (Jan. 1 – Mar. 15, 2020)
• Non-holiday pandemic (Mar. 16 – Nov. 15, 2020)
• Holiday pandemic (Nov. 16 – Dec. 25, 2020)

Today, we analyze how the high-value shopper of the online gifting industry adapted her online shopping habits to the changing e-commerce landscape. Meet her below:

Online Gifting Trends

Before the pandemic, the high-value customer for the online gifting industry shopped early in the day and week. She visited a website at nine a.m. and made her final purchase mostly at nine a.m. on a Tuesday. She’d wait just over six and a half days between her first website visit and final purchase. In deciding what to buy, she visited a website eleven times before completing her purchase. Presumably, she was fastidious in her gifting habits and took pride in choosing the perfect gift. Her average order value (AOV) totaled $51.55 and she usually had at least six items in her basket.

When the pandemic started in March and she could not see family and friends as much as before, the high-value shopper turned to online gifting to send her regards. ‘Quarantine gifts’ and ‘virtual gifts’ — such as greeting cards, flowers, faith-based products, and self-care items — rose in popularity as a way to stay safe, while still keeping in touch.

She started her gift research earlier throughout the pandemic, visiting a website at around eight a.m. She was most likely to complete her purchase still at nine a.m., but now on a Thursday during the height of the pandemic. Her latency period, between initial website visit and purchase, dropped to under three and a half days. However, she still visited a website eleven times before purchasing, browsing through a website over three times a day.

During the pandemic, the high-value shopper bought fewer items but spent about the same. Her AOV dropped by only one dollar to $50.66 and she averaged fewer than five items per order. Throughout this time, she seemed more concerned with having a gift rather than the price.

The Role of Mobile in Gifting

In her quest for the perfect gift during the pandemic, the high-value shopper used her mobile device for just over 27% of her first website visits and to complete 27% of her purchases. This is up 2% from pre-pandemic times. 

As the holiday season approached, the high-value shopper relied on her mobile more. She conducted just over 40% of her first website visits and completed 39% of her orders on a mobile device. Within NetElixir’s dataset for FACES, the high-value shopper for the online gifting industry had the biggest jump in the adoption of mobile commerce between the pandemic months to the holiday season. Her first-time website visits rose 12% and her online orders rose 13% between the non-holiday and holiday pandemic months.

Gifting Holiday Cheer

The high-value shopper grew more comfortable using her mobile device as the pandemic progressed, allowing her more immediacy in searching for and buying holiday gifts for loved ones. Her online shopping behavior reflected the urgency of the holiday season to secure the perfect gift and send everyone a token of appreciation.

The high-value shopper was no exception to wanting more personal gifts to send to her loved ones. As the 2020 holiday season was different than prior years, the majority of shoppers wanted to send more meaningful and thoughtful gifts. Shoppers sought out more personalized gifts during the 2020 holiday season to feel connected to those they could not meet with in person, reported CNBC. Searches for holiday gifts started earlier, especially on Pinterest. CNBC found that holiday searches typically begin to spike in June in years prior, but started surging in April last year. “Christmas gift ideas” searches were three times higher in April 2020 compared to prior years. 

In her search, the high-value shopper was more likely to browse for gifts at ten a.m. and purchase her presents at ten a.m. on Mondays. Her latency period dropped to one day and eighteen hours, down 46% from the pandemic months. She visited a website seven times in her search, thoroughly ensuring she was buying the right gift for everyone. 

Her AOV jumped to $65.65 and she bought an average of just over four and a half items. Etsy found that people favored gifts that had a purpose and meaning, that exuded comfort and a feeling of nostalgia to feel more connected during the holiday season — a sentiment apparent in the high-value shopper’s online shopping behavior. She did not worry too much about price, favoring instead finding the gift that best suited the recipient and made the holidays special. 

A Gift to Share with High-Value Customers

Personalized gifts with meaning are likely here to stay beyond the holiday season. Etsy found that ‘personalized gift’ was the most searched term on its site in 2020. The retailer predicts that maintaining a sense of connection will continue to be a priority among shoppers. Retailers looking to entice customers like the high-value shopper should offer a selection of diverse and customizable gifts.

Because the high-value shopper is mobile-savvy, consider offering mobile-online deals or selling through Instagram and other shoppable apps. Put together care packages and bundles so the high-value shopper can easily send thoughtful gifts to her loved ones. Make your delivery and shipping options clear, as the high-value shopper loves to send gifts to others.

Showcase your products through lists and blog posts that focus on individuals, such as “gifts for your best friend” or “virtual gift ideas for coworkers” to help your high-value shopper check off everyone on her list. Build out your own high-value customer profile using FACES as a reference. Learn who your high-value shopper is looking to send gifts to so you can structure your blog and social posts around the most impactful products. Your consumer profile will help you cater to your brand’s high-value shoppers by offering a selection of gifts unique to them — after all, everyone loves treating themselves to a gift!

Further Resources on Understanding Your High-Value Customers

NetElixir’s proprietary customer analytics tool, LXRInsights, charts the paths-to-purchase of your high-value customers. Using our technology, you can track customer touchpoints and build customer personas for more personalized and targeted campaigns – just as we explored in our 2021 FACES report. Request a demo of LXRInsights for specifics into your business at https://www.lxrinsights.com/.

Tune in on Fridays to learn more about your industry’s high-value customers. Browse through our previously published industries:

• Pet Supplies
• Home Furnishing
• Fashion & Jewelry

The post Gifting: 2020 Online Shopping Behavior of High-Value Customers  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.

Back-to-School Spending, 2019

Last year, eMarketer noted Amazon’s Prime Day as the unofficial kickoff to the back-to-school season, a sort of midsummer Black Friday event. Historically, back-to-school retail spending has been upwards of $24 billion, noted in the chart by eMarketer below:

Digitalcommerce360 forecasted that 29% of the 2019 back-to-school spending would be online. In the same report, shoppers said they spent more than half of their budget on clothing and accessories, then school supplies, electronics, and computers and hardware. Mobile devices played a vital role in consumers back-to-school purchase journeys, between shopping apps, collecting coupons, and researching pricing and retailer’s websites beforehand.

In 2019, young shoppers represented a small, but significant portion of the back-to-school shoppers and held critical influence in purchasing decisions. Their influence stemmed from research into online reviews, social media, and recommendations from friends and family. Now, as digital marketing and communications at increasingly at the core of our daily lives, students are expected to discover more new brands and products through online research – especially as the younger generation helps the older generation get more comfortable with online shopping.

2020: A New Retail Curriculum

The National Retail Federation (NRF) predicts record-high sales for back-to-school shopping this year, as students prepare for remote learning with big ticket items like laptops and computer accessories. Consumers also plan to buy furnishings for a comfortable remote learning environment, according to the same NRF survey. Retailers in the Technology and Home Furnishing categories should expect a high influx of shoppers and searchers.

Total Retail recently reported that ads surrounding the back-to-school season have changed in both content and spend. There is a high shift to television ads to capture families together in their homes. Content remains sensitive, showing a hopeful message and a blend of the classic school environment and athome learning. Electronics account for a higher percentage of advertisements, reports a survey conducted by Numerator, while clothes comprise a smaller share of ad content compared to last year.

Throughout the coronavirus crisis, we saw the online purchasing power of younger shoppers rise, especially among the 18-24 year olds. As many return to college, brands should focus on continually engaging these consumers to create an ongoing digital communication with messages of helpfulness and hopefulness. Sell more than just products: provide inspiration for athome classrooms and desks, tips to keep students engaged in a virtual session, and a means for them to stay in touch with others. 

This back-to-school season, don’t let students be the only ones who learn. Retailers have an opportunity to increase brand awareness and reach new demographics to help students, parents, and teachers prepare for their first day back to school. Remember to inspire through social media and reach consumers however and whenever they search. Experiment with reaching new audiences to build relationships and brand loyalty as we move into the holiday season.

The post Back-to-School Readiness appeared first on NetElixir.