According to new data from Shopatron, the world’s leading cloud-based provider of enterprise distributed order management solutions, omnichannel retailers that provide cross-channel offers to their customers are the big winners emerging from this year’s “Cyber Week.” Contrary to the old notion of concentrating promotions at store-level only, Shopatron’s data shows that forcing customers into buying frenzies on specific days is losing favor, and that smart retailers who focus on meeting cross-channel consumer demand with ever increasing levels of service are realizing the benefits.
Cyber Weekend Performance
According to NRF, retail spending over Thanksgiving weekend fell 11%, but omnichannel retailers on the Shopatron platform enjoyed 40% gross merchandise value (GMV) growth spanning eight days, and spikes over the holiday weekend leading to remarkable year-over-year growth of over 93%. Shopatron retail customers saw impressive growth rates throughout the 5-day weekend, including:
- 38% GMV growth on Black Friday
- 77% GMV growth on Cyber Monday
- 62% year-over-year GMV growth on Small Business Saturday
- 93% increase in order volume over 2013 on Sunday
Demand for In-Store Pickup
This year’s Cyber Week also saw growing demand for in-store pickup, experiencing heavy traffic Monday through Wednesday, until retailers abandoned store fulfillment in favor of managing Black Friday store operations and doorbusters. Shopatron found that the rate of in-store pickup orders during the week leading up to Thanksgiving was 3.5x higher than aggregate in-store pickup rates for the Cyber 5. In-store pickup transactions peaked on Monday, November 24th, representing 15% of total orders. After Thanksgiving, Shopatron saw a 700% decline in in-store pickup, illustrating an unbalanced match of supply and demand.
Mobile Confidence
The rise in smartphone usage once again fueled the biggest online shopping holiday period demonstrating the convenience of cross-channel shopping, with consumers specifically developing confidence in larger mobile transactions. According to Shopatron, the average order value originating from mobile transactions advanced significantly in comparison to desktop transactions, maintaining a growth rate throughout the 5-day weekend 2x as much as the growth rate of order values from desktop purchases. Additional mobile commerce figures from Cyber Week include:
- Black Friday’s average order value of mobile orders increased 51%, while desktop average order value grew 35%.
- Desktop ecommerce remains the preferred channel for high-ticket purchases, with mobile average order values hanging 9% below desktop orders on Black Friday.
- Mobile traffic on Black Friday represented 47% of total traffic, while mobile sales accounted for only 30% of overall Black Friday sales.