3 Global Shopping Holidays Retailers Need to Know
Retailers know that the end-of-year holiday season is often their busiest and most lucrative time. A recent Forrester Research study shows that the e-commerce industry is steadily growing and projected to reach nearly $334 billion by the end of 2015.
For small businesses searching for new opportunities to increase online sales, here are some upcoming global shopping events to be prepared for:
Singles Day, Nov. 11
A Chinese holiday that started when consumers celebrated being single by purchasing something special for themselves, Singles Day is now the biggest shopping day of the year. In 2014, sales in China hit a record $9.3 billion, a 60 percent increase from the prior year's $5.8 billion spent.
What’s the opportunity for online merchants? Recent research from PayPal and Nielsen/Harris Poll found that more than half of Chinese online shoppers are planning to begin or increase cross-border buying, and U.S. retailers are their No. 1 destination.
Tip: PayPal’s site, Wu Jing Gou (aka Borderless Shopping), enables merchants from outside of China to showcase merchandise to Chinese consumers looking to buy cross-border. Small businesses are encouraged to get involved early this year to reap the benefits of this booming holiday.
Click Frenzy, Nov. 17
Launched just three years ago, Click Frenzy is Australia’s 24-hour online shopping event to kickstart holiday shopping. The new shopping holiday is gaining traction, with 310 participating retailers and sales exceeding those of Boxing Day by 37 percent in 2014.
Tip: Go mobile! A third of Australian online shoppers surveyed in a global PayPal/Ipsos study on cross-border and mobile shopping habits report having purchased something via smartphone in the past 12 months, and 23 percent report making a purchase via tablet. Brands that optimize their websites for mobile are primed to take advantage of that growing market.
Black Friday/Cyber Monday, Nov. 27-30
The Friday after Thanksgiving and the following Monday are the biggest U.S. shopping days of the year. American shoppers are increasingly buying online and internationally, so global merchants can capitalize on this popular time to shop for deals.
Tip: Hotly sought after items for the holidays from international sellers are clothing/apparel, toys, watches/jewelry, and consumer electronics.
For more information for small businesses looking to shore up their holiday sales strategy, PayPal’s PassPort is a key resource. Designed to educate and empower small businesses to expand their global sales, PassPort can help merchants learn about sales peaks and holidays beyond their borders and understand gift-giving traditions country by country.
Melissa O’Malley is director, global merchant and cross-border trades initiatives, at PayPal, a worldwide online payments system.
