It’s officially Q4 which means the holiday season is upon us, and if you’re like most eCommerce business owners, you’re gearing up for the busiest—and most profitable—time of the year.
But with the constant evolution of consumer behavior, staying on top of the latest trends can make all the difference between crushing it this holiday season or missing out on key opportunities.
In today’s episode, I’ve got your back! I’m breaking down the biggest holiday shopping trends for 2024, from when people are starting their holiday shopping to how different generations have different shopping habits. I’ll also dive into how you can leverage trends like self-gifting and post-holiday shopping, to boost your sales and keep your sanity intact.
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When Are Consumers Starting Their Holiday Shopping?
Let’s start with timing because that’s one of the first things you need to nail down in your marketing calendar. Every year, it feels like shoppers are starting earlier and earlier, and 2024 is no different. About 27% of shoppers are starting their holiday purchases in October, before you’ve even packed up your Halloween decor
(DigiCommerce)(Tinuiti).
Gen X and Millennials lead this trend with 30, and 29% starting in October respectively.
I’m sure there are a lot of different reasons why people start their shopping early. They want to get the best deals, have access to the best products, and probably want to avoid the crazy mad dash that last week before the holiday.
If you want to capitalize on this early shopping there are a few different ways you can do that:
Run Your Black Friday Deals Early
Historically this has been a hit or miss for my clients or students. For some, it works great and they continue to do it. For others, it doesn’t move the needle and they still end up doing better during the Black Friday weekend. The only real way to know is to test it out.
Offer something special for your email subscribers
While I prefer to use your Black Friday promotions as a way to build your list through a pre-launch, even asking your existing customers to opt into that early access list, you could always do a little something special for your email people to encourage early shopping with you.
Release Your Holiday Collection in October
While I typically recommend a holiday campaign launch on November 1, there’s no reason you can’t release things early. Brands have done this for years, and consumers definitely get excited about it.
At my previous day job, we never released holiday earlier than November 1 because Halloween was one of our top 3 selling periods, so October was always reserved for that.
If you don’t have that conflict, then there’s no reason not to release your holiday collection early if it’s ready to go. This is especially true if you don’t intend to discount your holiday merchandise in your Black Friday deals.
What About Last Minute Shoppers?
But here’s the kicker—not everyone’s finishing their shopping early. Around 16% of shoppers still wait until December to complete their holiday shopping (DigiCommerce). So, while you definitely want to get those early sales, keep your campaigns running throughout the season for maximum impact.
You’ll also want to capitalize on those last-minute shoppers with expedited shipping options and gift card sales.
Black Friday & Cyber Monday Still Reign Supreme
Now, we can’t talk about holiday shopping without mentioning the Black Friday and Cyber Monday craze. Even with early shopping on the rise, 62% of shoppers still plan to engage with Black Friday deals, especially Gen Z, with 75% planning to get in on the action (DigiCommerce) (PracticalEcommerce).
But don’t make the mistake of thinking it’s all over after Cyber Monday. A large percentage of shoppers will still be hunting for deals in December, and if you stop marketing after Cyber Week, you’ll miss out on those late buyers. Keep pushing your campaigns right through to the last shipping day before Christmas.
The time after Cyber Monday through the last day for ground shipping is a great time to clear out any holiday-specific inventory you might have left over.
And don’t feel like you have to continue running huge promotions on your best-selling products during this time. Last-minute shoppers are generally less price-sensitive.
In fact, at my previous day job, we ran out Halloween promos the first few weeks of October to kick off that early spending and then the week of Halloween we sold everything at full price. At that point, people didn’t care.
We took a similar approach for Valentine’s Day which was our biggest shopping season overall.
The Rise of Mobile Commerce
You know I’m always harping on about how mobile commerce is growing—and guess what? That trend isn’t slowing down. In fact, 54% of holiday eCommerce sales are expected to come from mobile this year (Practical Ecommerce)
So what does that mean for you? If your website isn’t fully optimized for mobile, you’re leaving money on the table. Shoppers are busy, they’re on the go, and they want a seamless experience.
Your site needs to load fast, navigate easily, and be simple to check out from a phone. Think Apple Pay, Google Pay, and PayPal—the easier you make it, the higher your conversion rates will be.
If you’re on Shopify, and haven’t added your products to the Shop app, I would definitely recommend it. And if you’ve got your own mobile app through a tool like TapCart, consider running some mobile-only deals to encourage shopping on these platforms.
And speaking of mobile, social commerce is another area that’s exploding. Gen Z, in particular, loves buying directly from platforms like TikTok and Instagram. So, if you’re not leveraging shoppable posts on the social media apps you’re already using, now’s the time to start. This trend will likely continue to grow, especially as more platforms roll out in-app shopping experiences. (Radial)(DigiCommerce)
That said, as I’ve discussed many times before, I don’t recommend you try and be in all the places if it means you can’t be consistent or do it well. Can you have a presence there? Sure, I talked about that on episode 289. How to Optimize Your Online Presence – for eCommerce and Brick & Mortar. But don’t feel like you have to start posting somewhere new just because it’s Q4.
Self-Gifting is Bigger Than Ever
Here’s a fun one—the self-gifting trend is back in a big way. This year, 73% of Millennials and 68% of Gen Z plan to treat themselves while shopping for others. (DigiCommerce) This isn’t at all surprising and is a trend I’ve seen every year since I started working in retail at age 16. Between kick-ass deals and endless holiday stress, it makes sense that people would want to reward themselves.
How do you tap into this? Create treat yourself messaging around some of your best-selling products. Offer bundle deals where shoppers can snag a little something extra for themselves, or include a buy one, gift one promotion. You could even push a self-care for the holidays angle, depending on your product.
Also, don’t underestimate the power of upsells here. Use pop-ups or time-sensitive offers during checkout to encourage shoppers to add something for themselves while they’re already in the buying mindset. It’s an easy way to increase your average order value during the holiday season.
Create a Premium Catalog as Your Gift Guide
If you’ve been around here for a while, you know I love a good gift guide. They’re great for SEO, they help your customers, and they’re easy to promote across multiple channels. But if you want to step it up for 2024, you can get a little fancy.
In addition to the gift guide collections you create on your website – you still want these for SEO purposes – you can create an interactive gift guide. I’ve been using a tool for the Lounge that lets me create a flippable magazine that I use for the SIP, the Lounge monthly magazine.
It even makes the sound of a page-turning when you navigate through it; definitely more fun than a traditional PDF.
You can embed it on your website, send it out via email, and share it on social media. You can also embed videos that the viewer can play right from the magazine. The best part though? With clickable links embedded directly into the guide, customers can buy with just a few taps.
I will say, creating the initial PDF can be a heavy lift, so think of this as a bonus idea if you’ve got some extra time on your hands.
If you want to try the tool I’ve been using I’ll stick my affiliate link in the show notes. I will say though, that I’ve been getting away with the free version, and you probably can too.
Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) Is Gaining Ground
Another trend you don’t want to sleep on is Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL). This year, it’s projected to account for 9% of all U.S. holiday online sales, and 25% of shoppers plan to use it. (Practical Ecommerce) If you’re not already offering a BNPL option like Shop Pay or Afterpay, now is the time to add it.
BNPL is particularly effective for higher-priced items because it breaks up the cost, making the purchase seem more affordable. But even for mid-range products, having this option available can be the deciding factor between someone buying from you or a competitor.
Start promoting your BNPL options early in your campaigns—it’s a great way to reduce cart abandonment and increase conversions, especially for those who are budget-conscious.
If you don’t already call out that you offer this in the footer of your emails you should definitely add it. Even though it’s likely listed on every product page, if the user never clicks the email to see it – it’s not going to help you.
The higher-priced your products are, the more aggressive you should be about promoting that option.
How Much Will Shoppers Spend
One of the biggest concerns of most eCommerce business owners right now is how much shoppers are planning to spend this season. We’ve talked about a few of the events that might cause consumers to tighten their purse strings this season, such as the presidential election and the hurricane disaster in the southeast.
But as I mentioned on the episodes where I dove deeper into this, the statistics show that in most cases, elections and natural disasters actually have a minimal effect on the total spend that takes place. Usually, it just affects when the spend happens. For instance, showing a lull initially and bouncing back afterward.
That said, with many people feeling the financial crunch, a study by Tinuti shows that 54% of holiday shoppers plan to spend about the same amount as last year. 25% said they’d spend more, and 21% plan to spend less. Sounds like it will all level out.
In general, as long as you have a product people want and you do your part to market yourself, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t have a successful holiday season.
Post-Holiday Shoppers Are a Goldmine
Now, let’s talk about what happens after Christmas. You might think holiday shopping ends on Christmas Eve, but that’s not true. In fact, 45% of shoppers continue to buy gifts between December 26th and January. (Drip)(Practical Ecommerce) And a lot of this shopping is driven by post-holiday sales and the redemption of gift cards.
This is the exact reason why the fiscal year for most large retailers is actually February – January instead of a typical calendar year.
If you want to keep the sales flowing, run a post-Christmas sale or offer discounts on gift cards for people looking to use their holiday cash. Also, consider running retargeting ads for those who visited your site but didn’t convert before the holidays. If you want to be cheeky you can center your marketing around getting the gift they really wanted or that Santa didn’t bring them. This is prime time for scooping up extra sales.
Pro Tip: Be ready for gift returns and exchanges in January. Make it easy for customers to exchange or upgrade their gifts by offering a limited-time discount or incentive for those who opt for store credit over refunds. It’s a great way to turn post-holiday returns into extra revenue.
Listen to the Episode
Timestamps
00:00 Introduction to Holiday E-commerce Trends
01:36 Timing Your Holiday Campaigns
05:38 Leveraging Mobile and Social Commerce
08:01 Self-Gifting and Upselling Strategies
10:00 Interactive Gift Guides and Buy Now, Pay Later
15:04 Post-Holiday Sales and Returns
17:21 Conclusion and Final Tips
Resources & Episodes Mentioned
- 289. How to Optimize Your Online Presence – for eCommerce and Brick & Mortar
- 299. Will Hurricane Helene Affect the 2024 Holiday Season?
- 291. Will the Election Affect Holiday Retail Sales?
- Database of All Podcast Episodes
- Create a Flippable Magazine-Style Gift Guide*
Statistical Resources
- 50+ Holiday Shopping Statistics & Key Marketing Insights [2024] – Tinuiti
- 19 Key Holiday Shopping Statistics You Need to Know (2024) – Drip
- Gen Z and Millennial Shopping Trends in 2024 – Radial
- 2024 Holiday Shopping Trend Predictions – DigiCommerce
- 5 Predictions for the 2024 Holiday Shopping Season – Practical eCommerce
