Customer engagement is critical during the holidays.
To better gauge online shopping during the holidays, Adobe looked at 11 European countries to predict the outcome of the year’s holiday shopping season that includes the months of November and December. It’s annual Adobe Digital Index, recently released, found that peak online shopping days are estimated to bring a combined £1.3 billion this year to online retailers. In the UK, Cyber Monday is predicted to bring in £281 million, according to the report.
Customers engage with brands sooner than later in some countries. Norwegians started shopping for the holidays the earliest, with their first big spike in online shopping occurring on November 2. Their Danish and Finnish neighbors are close behind – starting a day later. But the Swedes are taking their time - Adobe predicts their first online shopping spike won’t happen until November 25.
The study also found mobile shopping continues to grow faster in Europe, at 38 percent, than in the US, which is growing at about 25 percent. 24 percent of online sales in the UK this holiday season will come from a smartphone or tablet.
The holidays are a critical time for European retailers and Adobe predicts online sales will increase by 10 percent this year, while the in the US, retailers should expect about 27 percent of the year’s total online sales occurring during the holidays.
Happy (Mobile) Christmas!
“Last year’s report showed strong growth in mobile across Europe, a trend that continues this year,” said Mark Zabian, president of EMEA, Adobe, said in a release. He said that the trend is due, to some extent, to increased screen sizes on smartphones. “The continued strong growth in mobile traffic coupled with the emergence of mobile beacons and mobile payments mean European retailers must deploy the right strategies and technologies to create meaningful and relevant experiences for their 
customers.”
Holiday shopping on a mobile device such as a tablet or smartphone will grow faster in Europe than the US and Denmark will see the biggest growth in online shoppers this year– an impressive 56 percent. But the UK still has the highest percentage of mobile shoppers this season, in fact Adobe estimates one out of four online transactions will come from a mobile device.
Germany Will Have Biggest Peak Day
December 8 will be Germany’s most lucrative online shopping day, taking in about £345 million. UK will have its biggest day on December 1, with a projected online spend of £281 million. The Netherlands will see its peak shopping day on December 10 and day later, Finland, Denmark and Norway will do the same.
And the Best Time to Shop Online Is…
The Adobe study was able to look at data from UK and German markets to gauge when consumers can shop online to get the best deals. In Germany, the good news is that prices have already started to drop by about 10 percent. By early December prices should fall by about 20 percent. And, perhaps predictable, is that prices on average are 23 percent lower than normal right after the Christmas holiday.
In the UK, prices will fall to about 15 percent by December and even lower – by 25 percent – a few days before Christmas. But prices then increase for the days following. Adobe reports some UK retailers will offer up to 60 percent off after Christmas. Maybe the French already know that, because it won’t have its online holiday shopping peak until after Christmas – on January 7, 2015.
Interesting Findings
- The average online spend per person is Europe is £5.61. In the US, it is £5.08.
- Online Christmas sales are projected to grow by 8.7% in Europe
- 21 percent of the UK’s yearly online sales occur in November and December