A survey by Contentsqaure sheds light on holiday shopping trends in the UK for 2020
A new study from Contentsquare, a digital experience analytics provider, found that 50% of website content goes unseen during the peak holiday season, compared to 41% the rest of the year.
Also read: 4 Ways Retailers Can Bring the Joy of Holiday Shopping To Ecommerce
The study includes  anonymized data from an analysis of millions of online user sessions during last year’s holiday season, sharing digital customer journey hacks to improve online conversions. Key findings from the report include:
- New visitors make up 63% of the total traffic during peak periods. This is a jump of over 10% compared to the rest of the year and contributes to search bar usage shooting up by over 43% during the holiday period.
- The average cart abandonment rate is 70% across all industries. Contentsquare data from the 2019 peak season reveals only 6.8% of retail website visitors reached the cart page last year and only 22% ended up converting. That means online retailers missed out on potential revenue from 78% of those who had items in their cart.
- 52% of visitors who reach the checkout login page drop off. Of the 47.8% of those who make it to the next step, 61% convert to paying customers.
- 80% of customers admit to conducting extensive research to secure the best deal when shopping, highlighting the importance of discount and referral codes to this all-important sales season.
“These findings show the importance of ensuring that your customer journey is as fluid and easy as possible from the moment they land on your web page to the moment that they checkout. This is compounded by the fact that so many of your potential customers will be new to your site during this period. Ensuring that all elements of your website are optimized for users to quickly find what they need and seamlessly apply discount codes and checkout is paramount to success during this season,†said Aimee Stone Munsell, CMO at Contentsquare. “With many consumers choosing to avoid physical stores, brands need to make sure that digital stores offer the same level of ease and convenience as simply picking a product up and carrying it to a checkout.â€
Also read: How Ecommerce Can Help Retailers Succeed in the 2020 Holiday Season: Survey Reveals
What Does This Mean for Marketers?
Like the spring and early summer months, when ecommerce activity was up more than 30%, online shopping between now and Christmas will account for most purchases even as more stores open for business. Brands must prepare to provide an optimal digital experience at every customer touchpoint, from landing page to checkout, if they want to take full advantage of the expected growth in ecommerce this year.
Also read: Holiday Shopping Predictions 2020: Consumers Will Spend 1B Hours on Mobile
A shift to ecommerce means retailers will need to be intentional about how they showcase their products online. Not only does the website need to make products easy to find, but it also needs to enable greater engagement with consumers so they can make an informed decision, especially when they cannot physically see and feel the product.
And it is not enough to deliver a rich, immersive experience. Visual assets must load quickly, or shoppers will leave the page. Retailers must find ways to automate the resizing of high-quality visual content to load rapidly on any device or browser.
This holiday season is a first for all of us. However, what can help marketers is investing in an engaging ecommerce site that will bring invaluable wins during this challenging peak shopping season. You can check out The 2020 Holiday PlaybookOpens a new window by Contentsquared for more insights on the study.