Seasonal

In what was arguably one of the strangest holiday season in recent memory – for a variety of reasons – retailers have reported a variety of results ranging from impressive to outright awful.

Overall retailers had a good 2015 holiday from a digital commerce standpoint, but some patterns changed.

According to the Verizon Retail Index, days that previously had unusual spikes in e-commerce activity, such as Black Friday and Cyber Monday, now show more normal levels of online traffic and purchase activity. Part of this shift is attributed to the widespread availability of high-speed online connections from consumer mobile devices.

The final tally is in, and it was a happy holiday for retailers engaging in digital commerce, with help from strong mobile performance.

According to data from comScore, total digital spend for the holiday season (including preliminary mobile commerce estimates) reached $69.1 billion in 2015. This represents about a 13% annual gain from $61.3 billion spent in the 2014 season.

The numbers are in and one specific device clearly served as a major catalyst for increased e-commerce sales during the 2015 holiday season.

According to the MarketLive 2015 Holiday Flash Report, smartphone revenue during the just-completed holiday season (Nov. 23, 2015 – Jan. 3, 2016) increased 50%. Overall e-commerce revenue grew 8% during that period.

Less than 12 hours after Macy’s shared bleak holiday results, J.C. Penney Co. said enhanced digital capabilities and strong demand for its private-label offerings helped it to produce strong holiday season same-store sales growth, which allowed the company to reaffirm its full year profit forecast.

Children’s Place did the most shareholder friendly thing possible just days after it announced a slate of other shareholder friendly measures.

Less than 12 hours after Macy’s shared bleak holiday results, J.C. Penney said enhanced digital capabilities helped it to produce strong holiday season same store sales growth which allowed the company to reaffirm its full year profit forecast.

The numbers are in and one specific device clearly served as a major catalyst for increased e-commerce sales during the 2015 holiday season.

According to the MarketLive 2015 Holiday Flash Report, smartphone revenue during the just-completed holiday season (Nov. 23, 2015 – Jan. 3, 2016) increased 50%. Overall e-commerce revenue grew 8% during that period.