According to Econsultancy, the longer duration of the recently concluded holiday season is a key factor behind the period’s spectacular online sales.
The buying rush traditionally starts in the weeks leading to Christmas, but in recent years, it has commenced in November. In fact, Amazon began offering Black Friday deals as early as November 1.
With this longer festive season, retailers had more time to advertise their promotions and market their products. This resulted in a 15 per cent gain in online orders from November 1 to December 14 when compared to the same period in 2013.
Overall revenue for retailers surged by 17.7 per cent on Thanksgiving Day on an annual basis. In 2014, 46 per cent of consumers used mobile devices to order products, whereas 49 per cent did so in 2013.
Ecommerce sales climbed 22 per cent on Black Friday when compared to the previous year, according to a report from ChannelAdvisor. For Amazon and ebay, the two biggest online marketplaces in the US, sales grew by 24 and 27 per cent respectively. In addition, ecommerce orders climbed by 15.4 per cent over the Thanksgiving weekend on a year-on-year basis.
On Cyber Monday, ecommerce sales exceeded US$2 billion in just one day for the first time, making it the most lucrative shopping day in history.
Online orders increased by 16.5 per cent from December 2 to 14, while revenue rose 15.6 per cent.