AdWords Retail Newsletter

’Twas the season

Looking back on the 2006 winter holidays

The 2006 holiday season was a happy one for online retailers, who saw record growth as more shoppers flocked to the Internet than ever before. Here’s a brief look at some key findings:

• Online retail sales during the 2006 holiday season reached $33 billion in 2006, an increase of 21 percent over 2005.¹
• 39 percent of online holiday buyers consciously sought out retailers offering the lowest price, a discount, and/or free shipping.¹
• For the third year in a row, daily traffic by market share of visits to the Hitwise Online Retail Index, a group of 100 leading retail websites, peaked on Thanksgiving Day and the day after Christmas.²
• Thanksgiving Day visits to retail sites suggest that shoppers were planning offline purchases to be made on Black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving).²
• Traffic on Cyber Monday (the Monday after Thanksgiving) increased 13.2 percent from 2005 to 2006. Many online retailers offered sales and specials on this day to attract business.²

What insights can online retailers glean from these facts and figures? First of all, it’s important to take advantage of holiday traffic and search fluctuations, making sure to prepare and budget for increased visits on peak shopping days. Second, consumers expect and seek out discounts and promotions, especially on key dates like Black Friday and Cyber Monday, so retailers should highlight any special deals in their online ads.

1 JupiterResearch, Holiday 2006 Postmortem, February 2007.

2 Hitwise US, Holiday 2006 Retail Recap Report, February 2007.