Holiday Recap

For online shopping, the 2007 holiday season was strong. To better understand how to take advantage of shopping patterns, we list out some key highlights, as well as some recommended tips to keep in mind as you plan for 2008.

Overall, the 2007 online holiday shopping season (Nov. 1- Dec. 31) was up 19 percent compared to 2006, with sales of more than $29 billion.¹ The period between Thanksgiving and Christmas was even stronger, with a 21 percent growth rate. The top shopping day was December 10, sometimes known as "Green Monday," with $881 million, and the week ending December 16 saw the strongest sales, with $4.7 billion in spending.¹

Highlights

• According to the HitWise Retail Index, search and cross-shopping drove the majority of referrals, contributing 57% of upstream traffic in December 2007.²
• While stores were closed on Thanksgiving Day, online-only specials and Black Friday promotions attracted shoppers, increasing online traffic to retail websites 20% from 2006.²
• On Black Friday, traffic was up 16% compared with 2006.²
• “Cyber Monday” (November 26), with $733 million in sales, ranked as the 9th heaviest shopping day of the year for retailers.¹
• Cyber Monday promotions drove the season’s highest growth in market share.²
• Gift cards from credit card issuers, such as Visa and American Express, were the most popular searches for ‘gift cards’ during much of December.²

Tips

• Prepare and budget for increased visits on peak shopping days.
• Consumers expect discounts. Highlight any special deals in ad text, especially on days such as Thanksgiving, Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
• Consumers are looking for gift ideas and are increasingly using the web to comparison shop. Prepare search campaigns around gift ideas and target comparison shopping sites in Google's content network.
• Know your audience and target them effectively. For example, the audience for Black Friday tends to be younger and female, so be sure to develop messaging, promotions and campaign configurations that are designed to connect with this demographic.²

[1] comScore, Press Release, January 7, 2008
[2] Hitwise, Hitwise US Holiday 2007 Retail Recap Report, January 2008