• For Buyers
    • Retail News
    • Products & Suppliers
    • Ecommerce
    • Marketing & Management
    • Trade Show News
  • For Suppliers
    • Supplier News
    • Marketing & Management
    • Importing
    • Manufacturers
    • Warehousing
    • Finance
    • Show Exhibiting
  • Wholesale 101
  • Trade Show Calendar
  • Wholesale Products
  • New Suppliers
Facebook Twitter Instagram
Wednesday, March 29
  • Subscribe
  • Submit Content
  • About Us
    • Contact Us
  • Advertise
    • Display Advertising
    • Email Marketing Campaigns
    • Newsletter Advertising
    • Sponsored Content
    • Lead Generation Services
  • Top Product Sources
Facebook Twitter Instagram
WholesaleCentral.com Blog
  • For Buyers
    • Retail News
    • Products & Suppliers
    • Ecommerce
    • Marketing & Management
    • Trade Show News
  • For Suppliers
    • Supplier News
    • Marketing & Management
    • Importing
    • Manufacturers
    • Warehousing
    • Finance
    • Show Exhibiting
  • Wholesale 101
  • Trade Show Calendar
  • Wholesale Products
  • New Suppliers
WholesaleCentral.com Blog
Home»For Buyers»Retail News»COVID & Holiday Shopping Behaviors
Retail News

COVID & Holiday Shopping Behaviors

Krystina MorganBy Krystina MorganSeptember 15, 20205 Mins Read
Facebook Twitter Email
Share
Facebook Twitter Email

girl shopping with phoneAs the summer continues to slip away and there’s still no end in sight for the pandemic, retailers have to truck on and start preparing for probably one of the most challenging holiday seasons we will come to know. Most retailers don’t know if what they’ve seen from shoppers since the onset of the pandemic is a new set of permanent habits or only temporary reactions to a global shopping shakeup.

The unpredictability of the holidays and the pandemic make it difficult to know exactly how the season will play out, but many industry experts have their own predictions to help retailers prepare as much as they can. One prediction the experts all have in common is that ecommerce will continue to lead throughout the holidays.

A Dramatic Shift to Online Spending

The 2020 holiday season represents the biggest ecommerce opportunity of the year. Qubit, a leader in AI-led merchandising and personalized experiences, announced findings from a new consumer survey which sheds light on changing shopper habits and reveals what brands can expect during the upcoming holiday season amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Some of the insights revealed that 1 in 2 consumers currently do more than 75 percent of all of their shopping online, while 1 in 4 do more than 90 percent of their shopping online. When asked about their attitudes towards the upcoming holiday season, 35 percent of shoppers said they’ll buy online more than they did before the pandemic, while just 10 percent of shoppers said they’ll buy less online than they did prior to the pandemic. Forty percent of respondents also plan to shop online more during this year’s Black Friday and Christmas holidays as compared to last year.

Black Friday & Cyber Monday Will Boast the Biggest Sales We’ve Ever Seen

In 2019, Black Friday and Cyber Monday accounted for 4.72 percent of total ecommerce sales, an anticipated $28.4 billion dollars according to Adobe. When we combine the anticipated consumer behavior and the frequency of online shopping, Jake Cohen, the head of product marketing at Klaviyo, predicts that this year’s Black Friday and Cyber Monday will drive $51.1 billion in sales.

Part of this is because retailers are going to try and make up for lost time when their brick-and-mortar stores were closed earlier in the year due to COVID-19. “As brands look to make the most of the remaining months of 2020 and move inventory for new product development, many brands will invest more heavily in ecommerce and will discount as a means to catch-up,” Cohen said.

Loyalty is Decreasing

Quarantining at home has made consumers want to try out new brands and not always shop from the same place. The same Qubit survey found that loyalty is decreasing with almost 40 percent of consumers stating they now shop with more brands than they did a year ago, and 46 percent of respondents said they are less loyal to the brands they love.

Data from a Ware2Go survey also found that more than half (55%) of Americans have purchased items online from websites and retailers they have never shopped with before. Americans’ willingness to try new brands during the lockdown spans across product categories. Some 61 percent have tried new grocery brands, while 34 percent have tried new vitamin and supplement brands, and 28 percent are trying new pet supply brands.

7 Ways Retailers Are Preparing for the Digital-First Holiday Season

Fayez Mohamood, Co-Founder and CEO of retail technology company Bluecore, recently released a report on how retail executives explore how new shopper behaviors will influence the digital-first holiday season, and here is how retailers are preparing:

  1. Retaining quarantine shoppers.
    Brands’ focus is on retaining these new customers from trying new brands during the pandemic and offering them experiences that will turn them into loyal customers, especially during the holidays.
  2. Adopting technology that moves at the speed of consumers.
    Brands are prioritizing technology investments that can move at the speed of the consumer, and forgoing typical processes in the technology search.
  3. Testing more than ever before.
    Brands are testing different technology, strategies and campaigns now, to have some reasonable estimation of what to expect from October through December.
  4. Getting creative about excess inventory to save margins.
    Brands are tackling excess inventory with digital communications that create the appearance of scarcity, recommend products based on a combined understanding of margins and relevance, and only surface discounts to shoppers who need them to convert.
  5. Determining brand positioning on social responsibility.
    While many brands typically lean into holiday to tell their most inspirational stories, this year, they’re focusing on moving forward as a diverse community.
  6. Preparing for less consumer spending.
    Brands are looking even more closely at retaining their most valuable customers and identifying consumers who are not experiencing the negative economic effects of the pandemic.
  7. Creating retail spaces that are experiential rather than commerce-focused.
    Brands are rethinking the purpose of their brick-and-mortar stores, and pop-up stores and the idea of “experience shops” are again emerging as alternatives.
consumer spending COVID-19 holiday sales September 2020 Issue
Share. Facebook Twitter Email
Previous ArticleThe Fusers of CBD & Shea Butter
Next Article How to Find Products in Short Supply

Related Posts

5 Essential Tax Season Preparation Tips

January 24, 2023

Technology to Prepare Your Store for the Future

January 19, 2023

2023 Retail Success Guide

January 5, 2023
Sign Up for Buyer Updates
WholesaleCentral.com

Join the Buyer's Network

Get news & updates only for retailers.

Latest Posts

Amazon Return Pallets For Sale: How to Profit

March 20, 2023

2023 Wholesale Apparel Trends

March 14, 2023

Top Wholesale Easter Products

February 27, 2023

The Future of Sustainable Manufacturing is a Hybrid Approach

February 23, 2023

Make Money with Foreign-Trade Zones

February 22, 2023

Overstock Liquidations

January 25, 2023
how-to
Wholesale 101 for Buyers

Amazon Return Pallets For Sale: How to Profit

March 20, 202311 Mins Read

A big trend among some online sellers is buying Amazon return pallets and overstock and…

Product News

Overstock Liquidations

January 25, 20236 Mins Read

Overstock inventory refers to the excess goods or merchandise that a retailer has on hand…

Retail News

5 Essential Tax Season Preparation Tips

January 24, 202310 Mins Read

Are you ready for tax season? April 18 is approaching quickly, and many day-to-day decisions…

Wholesale 101 for Buyers

How to Create a Google Business Profile

January 18, 20236 Mins Read

Looking for new ways to get your brand noticed? Creating a Google Business Profile can…

  • About Us
  • Subscribe
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise
  • Find Wholesale Sources
WholesaleCentral.com

Join the Buyer's Network

Get news & updates only for retailers.

Follow Us:

Copyright © 2023. Sumner Communications, Inc..

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.