NEW YORK, Nov. 29, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Criteo S.A.
(NASDAQ: CRTO), the commerce marketing technology company, today
released its analysis of transactions reported by its US retail
clients leading up to and during this year's biggest holiday sales
weekend. The data points to a staggering increase in buyers, mass
merchants making inroads despite predictions otherwise and a boost
in mobile purchases as consumers are driven to purchase on demand.
However, come Cyber Monday the data shows that many of the same
shoppers shift back to desktops as they return to work—highlighting
the true omnishopper cycle of today's modern customer.
Shoppers Come Out in Full Force
A significant spike
in consumer shopping was fueled by a positive buying mood, strong
economy and the deep discounts that shoppers have come to expect on
Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
- In total, holiday shopper volumes increased 49 percent over the
"baseline period" (November 6 through
November 19, 2017) with the number of buyers jumping an
incredible 112 percent overall.
- The largest increases in buyers took place on Black Friday (up
157 percent) and Cyber Monday (up 184 percent) from the weeks
prior.
- Shopper volume also saw an increase over the same period, up 49
percent with the largest days being Cyber Monday (up 74 percent)
and Black Friday (up 68 percent).
Mobile Shopping On-Demand
The sales period from what
we're calling "Black Thanksgiving" to
Cyber Monday was especially intense, making the jump in weekend
mobile sales share (40.6 percent of all sales) eye-opening but not a complete surprise.
Rather, this underscores a fundamental consumer paradigm shift to
purchase-on-demand habits.
Nearly all categories experienced an increase in the share of
purchases from mobile devices during the five-day peak period in comparison to the
baseline period, including Mass Merchants (up 7.4 percentage
points), Toys and Gadgets (up 5.3 percentage points), Flowers and
Gifts (up 3.5 percentage points), Home Improvement and Home Goods
(up 3.4 percentage points), and Fashion and Luxury (up 0.7
percentage points). By contrast, Health and Beauty's mobile share
declined somewhat (down 1.1 percentage points). The top takeaways
include:
- Mass Merchants showed a strong increase in mobile share,
demonstrating physical storefronts and an investment in mobile site
quality can translate into mobile commerce.
- Toy buyers are highly sensitive to specific inventory items, as
kids rarely accept substitutes, and busy parents need to have
flexibility to purchase how and when it's convenient for them.
- A 3.5 percentage point increase in mobile share for the Flowers
and Gifts vertical demonstrates that consumers are absorbing the
"gifting" message and transacting away from home.
- For Home Improvement and Home Goods, consumers' interest in
specific inventory items, which might be out-of-stock or
undiscounted in a given brand's physical store, led consumers to
consider other options while they were out of home.
- The fashion shopper continues to be highly predisposed towards
mobile commerce. The combination of a younger, more mobile-savvy
demographic combined with retailer investment in a high-quality
mobile commerce experience allowed fashion retailers to take
advantage of this trend.
Toys and Gadgets Win Shoppers Over
As Santa's helpers
gear up for the holiday season, it's no surprise the Toys and Gadgets
category saw the greatest average gain from both shoppers and
buyers of any vertical.
- Over the five-day peak period there was an overall increase of
263 percent (shoppers) and 108 percent (buyers). These increases
dwarf all other verticals.
Mass Merchants Fight Back
Mass Merchant retailers came
in second behind Toys and Gadgets,
with buyers increasing by 145 percent and shoppers by 88 percent—a
sign that department stores are fighting for shoppers' dollars with
highly successful promotional strategies. When comparing Mass
Merchants with standalone Fashion retailers, the data illustrates
that Mass Merchants were able to better retain their baseline
average order value (AOV) over the five-day period based on shoppers placing more
items in their baskets given the deep discounts.
- Mass Merchants showed a strong increase in mobile share
(+7.4ppts) as the physical presence of their stores and investment
in mobile site quality helped translate into mobile commerce.
- Fashion retailers, by contrast, saw a drop in their average
order value (AOV) over the five-day
period of about 33 percent.
"The triple-digit jump in shopper volumes and positive strides
made by mass merchants in this fiercely competitive landscape show
us that retail is alive and well—but it has shifted," said
Jaysen Gillespie, Vice President,
Head of Analytics and Data Science, Criteo. "Today's retailers have
to strategize far beyond discount structures to win during the
holidays. Shoppers are savvy, considering everything from free
shipping price cutoffs to ease of returns as they shop in stores
and on their phones. The 2017 holiday season is not yet over and
come January, we will have an even clearer vantage point into what
it takes for retailers to survive and thrive."
Methodology
- Criteo U.S. Retail Clients
-
- Excluded clients where a transaction does not represent spend
of dollars, such as price comparison sites and lead generation
sites
- Baseline period: November 6 –
November 19, 2017
- Baseline was broken down into weekday and weekend days to
understand mobile versus desktop behavior
- Device Type
-
- Used the user agent and the operating system to determine the
device type
- Any in-app purchases were assigned to the mobile device
category
- Fringe, non-desktop devices such as a Tesla screen are
classified as mobile devices
About Criteo
Criteo (NASDAQ: CRTO), the leader in
commerce marketing, is building the highest performing and open
commerce marketing ecosystem to drive profits and sales for
retailers and brands. More than 2,700 Criteo team members
partner with 17,000 customers and thousands of publishers across
the globe to deliver performance at scale by connecting shoppers to
the things they need and love. Designed for commerce,
Criteo's Commerce Marketing Ecosystem sees over $550 billion in annual commerce sales data. For
more information, please visit www.criteo.com.
Media Contact:
Kenya Hayes
k.hayes@criteo.com
(703) 589-7595
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SOURCE Criteo