Budgets/Spending/Market Size

Retailers continue to launch digital deals this holiday season to snag new customers — but these efforts come at a price.    Retailers’ promotional offers are eclipsing 2015 efforts. Customer orders using a promotion are up 34% versus 2015, and up 52% over the holiday season (Nov. 1-Dec. 5) versus 2015 in North America.     

Holiday 2016 is proving to be both an opportunity and a challenge for retailers, as they’re faced with catering to the behaviors and preferences of multiple generations of shoppers. It’s becoming increasingly clear that Generation Z (children ages 10-17) consumers have a significant and growing influence on household spending. And as a result, new trends are emerging this holiday season, including the record mobile app purchases we saw on Black Friday/Thanksgiving weekend.  

Newegg closed the books on its most successful “Black November” to date.   Strong sales from the five-day period of Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday drove a 19.1% year-over-year sales increase. These sales surpassed online shopping as a whole, which increased 15.2% during that same time-rame, according to Adobe Digital Insights, as reported on Nov. 29.   

It’s a draw.   Dollar General and Walmart tied for the least expensive overall basket, at $27 each, in Kantar Retail's Opening Price Point Study, which seeks to determine how select retailers meet the grocery and consumable needs of shoppers looking for the lowest absolute shelf prices.     

Mobile commerce drove healthy bottom lines for retailers industry-wide during Cyber Week, and PayPal witnessed the experience first-hand.   The payment processor said one-third of all payment volume on its network during both Thanksgiving Day and on Black Friday occurred on mobile devices, according to Tech Crunch.  

It’s a rough time for many teen apparel retailers and the holiday season may not bring much relief.   American Eagle Outfitters Inc. on Wednesday issued a weaker than expected forecast for the fourth quarter as its CEO cited a “tough” retail environment. Its warnings issues similar statements from the likes of Abercrombie & Fitch and Gap.    

Cart abandonment is a very real problem during the holiday season, but mobile users are giving up on orders most often.   These details were revealed in an infographic from Barilliance that detailed shopping behavior among 50 million consumers between Nov. 25 and Nov. 28.   

It still comes down to price.    Despite more modern approaches, 89% of consumers said that deep discounts (including coupons) are the key determinant of what stores they will visit for holiday shopping this year, according to a survey of millennial and Generation Z consumers conducted by HRC Retail Advisory.    In addition to finding that sales and coupons are more influential than any other tactic in motivating consumers to enter stores this holiday season, the survey also revealed: