Salesforce: 2016 most ‘digitally-influenced’ holiday shopping season ever

Digital commerce stole the show during the 2016 holiday shopping season, and mobile and social had the biggest impact on shoppers.



That’s according to data from Salesforce Commerce Cloud, which reports digital commerce was up 34% globally over last holiday — well surpassing last year’s 24% growth rate.



The increase had a significant impact on Black Friday. Historically called the biggest in-store shopping day of the holiday season, Black Friday unseated Cyber Monday as the number one digital shopping day thanks to escalated digital sales, Salesforce reported.



The company credits this shift to customers’ demand for a more unified shopping experience, and an increase in channel convergence throughout the industry.



“Shoppers have unified their shopping, and now retail must unify to meet their expectations,” said Rick Kenney, Salesforce Commerce Cloud’s head of consumer insights. “Those retailers that continue to put up with the ‘Noah’s Ark Problem’ — creating and maintaining two sets of everything, including promotions, pricing, products, inventory — will be unable to keep pace with the evolving needs of the shopper.”



Two digital influencers specifically drove this volume. The first: mobile usage, which soared this season. Mobility drove 60% of all traffic on Christmas Day alone, and 52% of all traffic this holiday season was conducted via smart phones, Salesforce said.



Similarly, social media gained traction as a path to purchase for shoppers this season. During Cyber Week, 6% of all mobile visits started on social, and social traffic overall is up 161% over 2014, Salesforce said.



“With social emerging and mobile dominating, the new retail pillars are here,” Kenney said.



“This season’s data clearly shows that the two activities — social and shopping — are absolutely intertwined,” he added. “Retailers must get comfortable with pulling their commerce experience further up the funnel to wherever consumers engage (intentionally or otherwise) with them.”