Holiday Online Sales Stats and Email Insights—How to Finish Strong in 2017 and Get a Head Start on 2018

Holiday Online Sales Stats and Email Insights-How to Finish Strong in 2017 and Get a Head Start on 2018

Digital sales figures are in for Black Friday through Cyber Monday. As predicted, 2017 is proving to be a record-breaking year! Here are some of the latest holiday online shopping stats that let you see how your company’s performance compares, as well as provide email-marketing insights for how to finish strong in 2017 and get a head start on 2018.

Adobe online holiday shopping data shows record-breaking sales for 2017:

  • Online retail sales hit $5.03 billion on Black Friday, which was up 16.9% compared to sales in 2016.
  • 54.3% of retail Website visits and 36.9% of online sales happened on a mobile device.
  • Conversion rates on Black Friday were up by 16.5% on smartphones and 13% on tablets compared to 2016.
  • Adobe also reported that digital transactions on Cyber Monday hit a record high of $6.59 billion—an increase of 16.8% over last year.
  • A record $2 billion in mobile sales occurred on Cyber Monday.

Salesforce’s holiday shopping report for Black Friday 2017:

  • Black Friday digital sales were up a whopping 32% compared to last year.
  • Mobile traffic share reached 60% this year, up from 52% last year.
  • Mobile order share was also up, reaching 42% this year compared to 34% in 2016.
  • Although only 6% of online shoppers engaged with artificial intelligence (AI)-powered product recommendations on Black Friday, those shoppers accounted for 30% of all revenue.

Salesforce’s holiday shopping report for Cyber Monday 2017:

  • Digital sales were 15% higher on Cyber Monday compared to last year; however, Black Friday remained the biggest shopping day of the season so far. Average order value was also about $10 lower on Cyber Monday compared to Black Friday.
  • More shoppers used their desktops to make purchases on Cyber Monday compared to Black Friday. However, mobile use increased overall on Cyber Monday: Online shoppers placed 37% of their orders and made 56% of their Website visits from mobile phones. This compares to last year’s Cyber Monday mobile usage rates of 29% and 48%, respectively.
  • Similar to Black Friday findings, 5% of online shoppers engaged with AI-powered product recommendations on Cyber Monday, yet those shoppers accounted for 24% of all revenue.

Shopify analysis of digital sales on Black Friday through Cyber Monday 2017:

  • During the 4-day period of Black Friday through Cyber Monday, Shopify retailers generated more than $1 billion in sales.
  • Shopify retailers processed $1,138,574 per minute during the peak of the sales period, compared to $555,716 during the peak period of 2016.
  • Mobile sales accounted for 64% of the overall sales during the 4-day holiday shopping period, which was 10% higher than 2016. In addition, mobile purchases surpassed desktop purchases on both Black Friday and Cyber Monday, whereas in 2016, desktop still dominated on Cyber Monday.
  • Shopping on Cyber Monday grew in popularity, closing in on Black Friday’s sales this year.
  • Email demonstrated the highest conversion rate (4.29%), followed by search (3.04%), direct mail (2.39%), and social (1.81%).

3 Email Strategies to Help Finish Strong in 2017 and Hit the Ground Running in 2018

In a recent NewsLever feature, we shared 8 email-marketing tips to help drive more sales and revenue from your holiday email-marketing campaigns. So far, the results from the 2017 holiday season are meeting (and even exceeding) the high expectations. So, what can you do to help ensure success through the end of 2017 and at the start of 2018? Here are a few insights on ways to optimize your email campaign performance and results:

  1. The use of mobile devices to read and respond to emails, browse Websites, and purchase online is on the rise. And, likely more than half of your customers currently use mobile devices to interact with your emails and make purchases online. That’s why it’s essential to use responsive design and optimize your emails and Website landing pages for mobile. Click here for mobile email-marketing best practices.
  2. If you’re not using predictive analytics to create and send personalized emails to your subscribers, it’s time to start. As the Salesforce 2017 holiday data indicated, AI-powered product recommendations were used for only a small fraction of online shoppers, yet it drove a significant amount of holiday sales on Black Friday and Cyber Monday.For more information about using predictive analytics in email marketing, check out the following FulcrumTech articles:
  3. Once you get a customer to convert, follow up with post-purchase emails to help drive additional sales. For example, design and implement triggered email campaigns that include product recommendations based on previous purchases and provide incentives for future purchases.

How did your email campaigns perform last year? Are you looking to drive more revenue and improve your email-marketing return on investment for 2018? FulcrumTech can help. Contact us and we’ll get you started today!


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