Seasonal

Retailers expected online sales to hit record levels in 2014 and did they ever.

New all-time highs for e-commerce sales are now expected for the November through December time frame following a strong surge in sales during the final week before Christmas, according to the digital measurement firm comScore.

New York - Christmas Day saw both strong online and mobile sales. Key Christmas Day trends reported by the IBM Digital Analytics Benchmark include an 8.3% year-over-year increase in online sales.   In addition, mobile traffic accounted for 57.1% of all online traffic on Christmas Day, an increase of 18.6% from the prior year. Mobile sales accounted for 34.8% of all online sales on Christmas Day, an increase of 20.4% year-over-year.  

Retailing Today will be closed for Christmas, Dec. 24 through Dec. 26, and will publish again on Monday, Dec. 29. The editor and publisher of Retailing Today would like to wish you and your families very best wishes for a happy, healthy and joyous holiday.

Cheers, Mike Troy Editor, Retailing Today

New York – The weekend of Dec. 20-21, which included “Super Saturday” (the last Saturday before Christmas) saw the highest daily back-to-back Internet traffic from online consumer retail shopping activity since tracking began before the Thanksgiving weekend. According to the Verizon Retail Index, average daily traffic was 119 on Saturday and 122 on Sunday.  

Chain Store Age wishes everyone a safe and happy holiday!  Our offices will be closed Wednesday, December 24th,  Thursday, December 25th and Friday, December, December 26th.  We will return to normal business hours on Monday, December 29th.  We wish you and your family a joyous and peaceful holiday season!

By: Sunil Oberoi, Symphony Teleca Corp.   With the holiday shopping season officially in full swing, many retailers are facing the challenge of reaching consumers during this traditionally noisy time of year.  And since today’s consumer is more connected than ever, they expect retailers to meet the demands  of their omnichannel lifestyle, meaning they want  their shopping experience to be personalized to their interests and needs.    

San Jose, Calif. – “Super Saturday,” the Saturday before Christmas (Dec. 20), was not quite super for retailers expecting a sales bonanza. According to data from in-store analytics provider RetailNext, compared to the equivalent date in 2013, net sales were down 9%, store traffic was down 10.6%, total transactions fell 8% and average transaction value was 0.9% lower.   However, there were a couple of bright spots. Conversion rate rose 0.4 percentage points and sales per shopper increased 1.8%.

New York - Macy’s knows the holiday spirit doesn’t suddenly fade on Dec. 26. The retailer is offering “Week of Wonderful,” a seven-day shopping event from Sunday, Dec. 28 through Saturday, Jan. 3.  During Macy’s ‘Week of Wonderful,’ customers will find a wide assortment of fresh products at affordable prices to usher in the New Year.