Coremetrics, the leading provider of hosted Web analytics and precision marketing solutions, today released LIVEmark Index data revealing that online holiday shopping traffic peaked on November 28th, the Monday after Thanksgiving, otherwise known as “Cyber Monday.” Online sales peaked the Monday after, on December 5th, allowing shoppers to take advantage of monogramming and gift-wrapping services while leaving ample time to account for shipping prior to the Christmas holiday. In addition to shopping early online, consumer trends showed increased browsing and purchases on Mondays when compared to other days of the week.
“This year more than ever, consumers are shopping online early to research hot holiday gifts and take advantage of the increasing number of gifting services and low cost shipping options offered by online retailers,” said Joe Davis, president and CEO of Coremetrics. “Data revealing spikes in online activity on Mondays this holiday season also signifies a pattern in consumer behavior of ‘window shopping’ offline during the weekend and purchasing the week day following.”
Data collected revealed that online traffic to retail sites peaked on November 28th this year, underscoring online consumer desires to research purchases for the holidays in a timely manner, especially during the holiday season. Retailers observed a peak in sales for the year on the following Monday, December 5th. A peak this early meets expectations given that it is three weeks before Christmas, leaving ample time to ensure availability of product and timely shipping of gifts that need to arrive before the holiday.
LIVEmark data regarding online traffic also shows that holiday shoppers turned to the online channel early in the week, possibly after browsing offline during the weekend. Traffic on Mondays was 16% higher and sales 15% higher than the average day for the three weeks prior to the Christmas holiday — November 28th through December 18th. This behavioral pattern highlights the importance of coordinating promotional activity across print, store, and online channels for multi-channel merchants.
The LIVEmark Index is the industry’s most comprehensive benchmark for eBusiness performance, providing critical comparison data for site-wide key performance indicators across more than 175 leading retail brands. LIVEmark participants gain a clear understanding of business performance relative to peers and competitors so they can effectively allocate marketing spend, anticipate industry threats and trends, and make strategic decisions about site marketing and merchandising efforts.
