What we can learn from pre-Christmas online sales
With the new decade beginning, it is interesting to look back at what has changed in recent years in terms of online shopping behaviour. The advent of extensive pre-Christmas sales has changed online shopping behaviour significantly over the festive season. But what does that mean for 2020 and beyond?
The changing face of online sales
Traditionally, sales were only available after Christmas with the Boxing Day Sale and the famous January sales encouraging shoppers to spend what little money they had left. However, over in the US, sales have traditionally started the day after Thanksgiving; the day known as Black Friday. The concept of Black Friday has filtered into Europe over the last five years, increasing in popularity every year.
Following Black Friday, for those who are too busy to go shopping straight after Thanksgiving, in the US they have further sales on Cyber Monday, which is the first Monday after Black Friday. This has now extended into ‘Cyber Week’ for those who want to enjoy lower prices for even longer in the run-up Christmas.
These US habits have now become ingrained in shopping behaviour in the UK and much of Europe and it’s permanently here to stay. It has significantly changed how businesses sell online in the run up to Christmas and meaningfully impacted profits too.
The impact on the bottom line is particularly problematic for businesses as Christmas has traditionally been the time where many businesses have made their most sales and profits.
Focus on mobile and conversions
Mobile usability and conversions are key for online success today; and this is even more critical when analysing Christmas shopping behaviour.
You will no doubt have been inundated with marketing emails in December from every website you happened to have given your email address to, websites you probably can’t even remember using, all offering you amazing deals for Black Friday, and the entire week after it.
In today’s mobile driven world, we are mostly likely to open an email on our phones and then click through to the mobile version of a website. The need focus on mobile usability and conversions has never been so important.
Most mobile websites sill convert at a rate of half that of desktop, most still don’t load as fast as they should and most aren’t set up as effectively as they could be for conversions on mobile.
What should you focus on in 2020?
In 2020 the focus on mobile needs to be even greater to ensure increased sales/enquiries and optimal conversions, especially in light of the significant shift in online shopping behaviour.
At Artemis we are completely mobile focused. We understand that since Google switched to its mobile first index, it has become essential that businesses improve their mobile optimisation and user experience. This is even true for B2B companies who may still get more traffic and conversions through desktop users.
We work with all clients to continuously improve conversions, page load speeds and usability across their mobile websites. It’s a constant process of learning, testing and refinement what works best for each website, in each market and for each type of customer.
Our focus for 2020 is very much on maximising the performance of the mobile websites for all of our clients. If you are interested in learning more about what Artemis could do to improve your business’ mobile website, don’t hesitate to contact us today.
