Mobile, E-Commerce Shopping Up, While Brick-And-Mortar Stores May Have Struggled
According to data from more than 200 online retailers and 500 million shoppers from Nov. 1 to Dec. 31, 2015, the holiday 2015 shopping season saw Americans turning more to e-commerce, particularly on mobile devices, for their shopping needs. The Houston (TX) Chronicle reported that Custora’s analysis found that holiday e-commerce revenue increased by 12.1 percent in 2015, with the number of orders increasing by 11 percent and the cost of the average order edging up by 1.1 percent. The Chronicle pointed out that Custora’s figures cast doubt as to the effectiveness of social media leading to online purchases, as social media led to only 1.8 percent of e-commerce sales. Most sales were the result of items popping up in search engines when shoppers typed in keywords. These searches made up 21.5 percent of all online sales. This was followed closely by email marketing, which led to 20 percent of online sales. Additionally, the study found that 30.4 percent of orders were placed on mobile devices.
Examining brick-and-mortar retail results, Investor’s Business Daily reported that analysts, as of Wednesday, were expecting December retail sales for stores open at least a year to grow 0.5 percent over last year, compared to a five percent increase in December 2014, according to Retail Metrics president Ken Perkins. The final numbers will be released Thursday, but if analysts predictions are correct, this would mean same-store sales would have grown a combined 0.2 percent during the November-December holiday season for the 10 retailers in Perkin’s index, which would be the slowest growth for the group since 2008, he said. Amazon and discount retailers like Ross likely performed well this holiday season, however, Perkins added.
What This Means For Small Businesses
The holidays are a crucial time for many small businesses. Understanding how potential customers most want to shop for goods and services can be key to boosting revenue during the holidays and year-round.
Additional Reading
Internet Retailer also covered Custora’s report.
Note: this article is intended to keep small business owners up on the latest news. It does not necessarily represent the policy stances of NFIB.
