During the past week, we’ve witnessed a flood of special deals from e-commerce websites for Black Friday and Cyber Monday. However with those special promotions now firmly behind us, it’s now back to reality with regular prices. But how did 2015 compare with last year? And what insights can we get for an even better year in 2016?
[Tweet “”The days from Black Friday to Christmas generate 50–100% more revenue than any other days””]
That’s what we’ll find out in this post, as we take a look at some e-commerce holiday statistics from 2015 you should remember for a record-breaking 2016.
The Significance Of Black Friday and Cyber Monday
According to data from RJ Metrics, the days from Black Friday to Christmas generate 50–100% more revenue than other shopping days throughout the rest of the year. This can be explained by Parago’s findings where 92% of shoppers will look for discounts online to find the best bargain, with Cyber Monday being the most discounted shopping day for e-commerce purchases.
This year, Adobe Digital Index also discovered Cyber Monday became the largest online sales day in history bringing in sales of $3 billion, a 12% increase from 2014.
So to prepare yourself for the holiday season and for another successful year in 2016, make sure to check out these posts:
- How To Prepare Your E-commerce Website For The Holidays
- Top 3 Holiday Optimisation Tips For E-commerce Websites
- How To Optimise Your Checkout To Boost Christmas Sales
Desktop vs Mobile
When it comes to devices, desktop still rules for e-commerce purchases with a 72% share of the orders according to Custora. However orders from desktop decreased from 2014 by 4%, while smartphones are gaining the most ground with orders, as its share jumped from 13% in 2014 to 19% in 2015.
Apple’s iOS still drives the most orders at 77% on mobile, though their share decreased in 2015 where it lost 2% to Android. But while this doesn’t represent a huge change, having an Android application for your e-commerce business could proof handy for the future.
With 48% of traffic coming from mobile devices during Black Friday and Cyber Monday, with mobile traffic showing no signs of decreasing – you’ll also want to ensure your website is optimised for mobile devices to make the most out of the traffic coming your way.
For more information about mobile, you might be interested in reading: 19 Facts E-commerce Entrepreneurs Need To Know About Mobile
Best Performing Marketing Channels
But what were the best performing channels? According to Custora Organic search, CPC and email attracted the bulk of e-commerce orders throughout Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
What’s interesting is that on Black Friday, email marketing generated the most sales with 25.1% of the share. Organic search drove 21.1% while CPC (paid search) came in third with 16.6% of sales.
[Tweet “”Email drove the most #ecommerce sales at 25.1% on Black Friday””]
Surprisingly with all the e-commerce features the likes of Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest have released onto their network – social media was only responsible for a mere 1.6% of sales on Black Friday. Cyber Monday was no different where they generated 1.5% of sales.
Based on the statistics above, investing more into your email marketing activities for increasing your revenue in 2016 could certainly help you bring in more sales. You’ll want to make sure you have the essential e-commerce email marketing strategies in place, such as:
- The ‘We Miss You’ email
- The abandonment email
- The follow-up email
For all the details on those strategies, check out our previous post: 3 Effective Ecommerce Email Marketing Strategies
What about you? What trends have you spotted this year – and what will you be doing differently in 2016? We’d love to your thoughts in the comments below.
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