2016 Holiday Season: What Marketers Should Look Out For

The Holidays are approaching, which means that the shopping season is about to be in full gear. Marketers must target consumers in a way that will effectively reach them, delivering the right message after listening to consumer demands.  

There are marketing trends as well as e-commerce trends that marketers should look out for this 2016 holiday season.

Online Spending

Online purchases are only predicted to continue rising, especially as Black Friday hits. People are using desktop computers as well as mobile devices for these purchases.  Last year Black Friday sales were $2.7B and Cyber Monday’s sales were $3B.  This year Black Friday is projected to top last year’s Cyber Monday total. The final trend in online shopping is that people are waiting until later in the season, with $1B in online sales between Nov. 22-Dec. 22 in 2015.

Biggest Trend

The biggest trend this year is personalization.  People are looking for an experience, no matter if they are browsing on their phones in the Starbucks drive-thru line or walking through the local shopping mall.  As consumers share more information, marketers are able to add more value to their shopping experiences.  43% of businesses will be spending more money on technology that enables a personalized shopping experience; from voice-enabled shopping to augmented reality.

Mobile Shopping

In 2015, 27% of online sales were from mobile devices, meaning that people are using their smart phones and tablets more and more via apps to get their shopping done.  This is only going to increase, as it is extremely quick and efficient.  Because of this trend, marketers should focus heavily in the mobile shopping arena.  The main areas of focus should be that the sites are easy to navigate through, that they are optimized for mobile viewing, and provide seamless payment processes.  If the mobile process is not streamlined, consumers will quickly turn to the competition.

Virtual Reality

Virtual reality may play a role in this year’s holiday shopping, as 53% of people stated they would be more likely to purchase from a company that used VR versus one that did not (according to a survey done by Greenlight VR). If people are able to ‘try on’ a dress virtually, they are going to be far more inclined to make the purchase after being able to visually imagine what the product will look like on.