15 Mind-Blowing Stats About Online Shopping—Holiday Edition

It’s that time of the year again, and consumers are already shopping for gifts both online and along the avenue. Major studies all point to digital playing a larger role than ever before.

♫ It’s beginning to look a lot like ♫—holiday marketing.

Indeed, it’s that time of the year again, and consumers are already shopping for gifts both online and along the avenue. Major studies all point to digital playing a larger role than ever before.

Black Friday will set record digital sales, passing $3 billion for the first time, and Cyber Monday will be the largest online shopping day in history. Thanksgiving Day will grow the fastest, reaching $2 billion in online sales (15% YoY growth), Black Friday will reach $3.05 billion (11.3% YoY growth), and Cyber Monday will hit $3.36 billion in online sales (9.4% YoY growth).
Beyond the three big online shopping days this holiday season, Adobe Digital Insights forecasts 57 days will bring in more than $1 billion each in online sales. Of those, 53 will occur consecutively–up 71% compared with the 31 straight days in 2015.
PayPal predicts mobile will play a huge convenience role during the holidays. In fact, 59% of Americans find the holiday season stressful, and more than 25% would rather shovel snow than go to the mall during the holiday season.
Deals are going to be key this year. Thirty-five percent of Americans say they would shop online at the Thanksgiving table to make sure they got a good deal.
Seventy-six percent of shoppers have changed their mind about which retailer or brand to buy from after searching on Google.
Google says that 64% of smartphone shoppers turn to mobile search for ideas about what to buy before heading into stores.
Half of the respondents to a recent survey by Deloitte plan to shop online for gifts, giving the Internet a bigger lead than ever over discount/value department stores (43%), which rank as the No. 2 destination for gift shopping.
Online shopping may also take some share from physical store categories big and small. Fewer people plan to visit standalone “big box” retail stores, dropping from 63% to 59% this year. Traditional malls fell slightly from 53% to 50%.
Forty-seven million people have finished their holiday shopping by the end of October.
To make the most of their money, shoppers are seeking out sales (85%) and setting a holiday budget (59% compared to 53% last year).
More than half of holiday shoppers say the best deals are online, and 37% report they plan to do more of their buying online this year due to the ability to shop any time, variety and convenience, competitive shipping offers, and faster delivery options.
A PwC report says that low-income consumers plan to spend 23% more this holiday season than in 2015.
The wealthiest shoppers plan to rein in their spending, with those households earning $150,000 or more saying they’ll spend $1,812. That would be a 3% dip compared with last year.
When looking for products online, 62% of consumers use online marketplaces, 43% prefer search engines, 39% visit online retailers, and 19% check out social media, according to a Pitney Bowes study.
A study by CreditCard.com found that 73% of consumers find “it is annoying that the holiday shopping season has gotten earlier.”