Conclusion: Leverage creators to enhance your Black Friday/Cyber Monday promotions.
Despite the uncertainty of a lingering pandemic, 2021 looks to be a big holiday shopping year. Buyer preferences continue to evolve as surviving legacy brands go digital and ecommerce brands improve on the shopping experience.
Ecommerce experts frequently base their holiday sales outlook on Amazon Prime Day – a mid-year sales event that many feared would take away from holiday sales but has actually served to increase ecommerce’s retail market share year-round (holidays included). And even though Amazon missed its sales forecasts, Prime Day (July 2021) still overtook last year’s record-breaking performance by more than 7%.
Economic recovery and rising employment also impact consumer spending. The increase in disposable income allows buyers to feel more financially stable as they approach the holidays.
Line graph depicting quarterly sales growth peaking in Q2 of 2020 compared to predicted growth in 2021
Image via Insider Intelligence
Brands are now planning their Black Friday/Cyber Monday 2021 sales events. From bulking up inventory to adding channels and recruiting social media creators, there is much to be done, and waiting to plan until after Halloween is no longer an option.
What about holiday shopping has changed since COVID-19?
In short, brick-and-mortar shopping is slow to improve while digital sales are higher than ever. Brands are getting smarter about how they use cost-effective digital features and social media to customize the shopping experience.
2020 was a wild year for retail. Staple goods providers turned over inventory too quickly while supply lines faltered. Luxury brands pivoted toward consumers in lockdown, and media streaming services enjoyed record subscriptions.
Where distributors couldn’t keep up with demand, direct-to-consumer brands filled in the gaps, provided never-before-seen white glove experiences for niche audiences, and offset in-store drops in sales with skyrocketing online purchases.
What does post-pandemic consumer behavior look like for ecommerce brands?
“A recent e-commerce report… found that 29% of U.S. consumers ios database surveyed said they will shop for items online more than they did before the pandemic. The survey… covered the time frame from April 2020 through March 2021. It predicts that between 20% and 30% of the global COVID-related shift to online purchasing would become permanent.”
– Yahoo News, July 2021
Brands are smarter. Agile processes enable retailers to transition in-and-out of economic responses to the lingering pandemic with relative ease. Improved digital marketplaces and social commerce features offer unprecedented assistance to brands that want to stay connected to their customers and make quick adjustments.
But consumers are smarter, too. It’s not that consumers are spending more or less. Rather, they are more careful about what they buy. Before they invest in a product or service, they are less willing to “try it out” and more interested in getting their purchase right the first time.
For this reason, user-generated content is more valuable than ever. Meaty product reviews, recommendations from friends/family, and authentic brand endorsements from popular creators/celebrities help the average consumer assess whether a particular product is right for them.