How to earn more on Christmas as eCommerce business? Thanks Giving and Black Friday Online Sales boom up by 4.5Bn

This year, the sales on Thankgiving and Black Friday for online shopping soared by 4.5 Bn approximately. Of course, per cart amount reduced slightly from last year, but the overall sales improved, and more customers rushed online to complete their shopping. An important role in this increase was played by the online eCommerce and marketplace websites, and a considerable amount of marketing through social media and emails. Festivals are the times when you would spend time shopping, and online shopping has driven in the craze heavily. Even without festivals, sales work well with the consumers. There is a lot of impulse shopping done in the name of sale. But, the combination of festival and sale works well. You feel like you are getting a freebie as a gift from the brand/business coming up with the sale, and you enjoy the attention you are receiving. It is indeed an amazing feeling, one that most consumers would like to revel into. These two days saw a good number of sales, each one offering real good deals. No wonder, the sales went up and so did the profitability and conversions. Let’s take a walk through what happened, before understanding why festival time sales work.

The Rush of eCommerce Sales

Adobe and IBM were constantly tracking what was happening after the online sales were introduced and marketed specifically for Thanksgiving and Black Friday. Adobe had tracked about 100 Mn visits during these days to around 4500 retails online. The final amount, as tracked by Adobe was around $1.7 Bn, which is about 22% higher than the sales that occurred a year ago.

On the other hand, according to the sales tracked by IBM, the average value per order was $142.55. It has definitely improved slightly over the past two years. The average value per order for 2014 and 2013 has been respectively $125.25 and $132. These figures that have been recorded is for Thanksgiving Day. The figures differ slightly for Black Friday of course. The figures for Thanksgiving Day were about 35% higher than the figures recorded for the same day a year ago. The reports also state the devices using which the sales were converted. About $283 Mn worth sales was made using mobile phones.   Smartphones and tablets accounted for 15% and 11% of the total sales. The company had expected about 29% sales this year, but it fell lower than the expectations in many ways. According to IBM results, iOS still opts for maximum sales, as maximum conversions were made from this platform. Most people who have purchased from a smartphone or tablet, has used the iOS platform, as it is pretty user friendly! Android and Windows platforms have not attracted many users.

How Festivals Help Boost eCommerce Sales?

Festivals are associated with the purchases you tend to make. Most often festivals are the time of the year when you go about making numerous purchases, and buying new things. Sales help you buy those items at a reduced price. So, in your fixed budget, you are able to make more purchases, which works for you.

Thanksgiving is the start of the festival month, and during this occasion most people start shopping for Christmas. This sale is intended for the purchases you are planning to make for the coming month. The four day holiday starting from Thanksgiving and ending with Cyber Monday is the ideal period for shopping.

In the traditional festival month, you used to have sales in the local shops. These used to be fun times for both the sellers and the shoppers. You could enjoy different colors at reduced prices with the sale. You could pick up more stuff at the price of one. These sales have shifted online with the changing consumption patterns. Earlier people used to shop offline, now they shop offline, which is why brands have tracked them offline and keep selling new things to them.

The holiday sales fetch the marketers audience, and more visibility. They are able to reach out to more people during this period, and can happily improve conversions. That’s why most marketers prefer holiday sales over regular sales, as they have more audience to choose from.