Is There A Black Friday Holiday Shopping Hangover?
By Christine Kern, contributing writer
2015 Verizon Retail Index Tracks Broadband and Mobile Holiday Traffic
The Verizon Retail Index, which tracks broadband and mobile shopping patterns, revealed that consumers were saving their holiday shopping for the weekend following Cyber Monday, posting a healthy shopping weekend for both online and mobile retailers. The Index is based on traffic data from the company’s wireline and mobile networks in order to identify traffic patterns due to consumer ecommerce activity in the U.S.
“Verizon will provide insights throughout the holiday season in an effort to help retailers crystallize their online and mobile commerce strategies that are critical for success in today’s fiercely competitive marketplace,” said Michele Dupré, group vice president of retail, hospitality and distribution for Verizon Enterprise Solutions. “Consumers are in the driver’s seat and will be loyal to the retailers who understand and appeal to them. As ecommerce and mobile commerce continue to explode, understanding the factors that drive the best consumer engagement will help determine who prevails.”
On December 4, the Index predicted that retailers would see “strong engagement across all channels this coming weekend, including healthy in-store foot traffic as final shipping and ordering deadlines draw nearer. Consumers may also feel some heat over inventory, particularly when it comes to toys. Shoppers will want to ensure they get the gifts topping their lists.”
The predictions were not wrong. “As anticipated, it was a healthy shopping weekend for retailers both online and via mobile,” said Dupré, “though this time last year was a little stronger. It’s possible some consumers hit the ‘pause’ button to recover from Thanksgiving weekend and Cyber Week shopping frenzy.”
Dupré stated that the Index findings clearly demonstrate that online and mobile promotions are being effective in driving consumer engagement, a trend that she expects to see continue as Christmas draws closer.
The Verizon Retail Index also found that broadband traffic attributed to e-commerce on December 5 and December 6 (Saturday and Sunday of Cyber Week) spiked 11 and 14 percentage points respectively over average daily traffic volumes. These numbers fall slightly below last year’s figures.
Mobile traffic also increased heading into the weekend, marking five and six percentage point increases above daily traffic volumes on December 4 (Friday) and December 5 (Saturday). Peak volume reached a level of 14 percent above average daily figures on both weekend days.
These Cyber Week figures follow a somewhat sluggish Cyber Monday. “Following a flurry of online shopping activity over the weekend when consumers had more time to shop, Cyber Monday appears to have been emblematic of a more typical Monday, “ Dupré explained. “From here on out, retailers will need to be very creative in coming up with special offers that will spark consumer attention and then convert that interest into sales.”
The challenge for retailers in the race to the holidays will be to really understand and engage with their customer base and not be complacent with their promotional offers as they compete to sell off seasonal inventory and capture market share.