More consumers spent Christmas Day shopping online this year than last year, while retailers did a better job of fulfilling last minute orders overall.
Traffic to top online retail sites was up 48% on Christmas Day this year compared to last year, according to new data from the Verizon Retail Index, which measures traffic to 25 large U.S.-based online retailers. Meanwhile, at its peak, traffic to the tracked e-retailers was up by 78% compared to the 2015 average on Christmas Day. A Verizon spokeswoman says peak traffic refers to the most active time during a 24-hour time span that the company monitored, however she did not specify the peak time on Christmas Day.
“E-commerce activity reached a feverish pitch on Christmas Day and the first full day of Hanukkah as consumers were likely purchasing last-minute e-cards, redeeming gift cards and using downtime to find great deals,” writes Michele Dupré, group vice president of retail, hospitality and distribution for Verizon Enterprise Solutions.
Meanwhile, data from digital retail consultancy Kurt Salmon, which is part of Accenture Strategy, shows retailers fulfilled 97% of all last-minute orders on time this year, up from 95% last year and 87% in 2014. Part of that success, however, could be attributed to the fact that retailers bumped up their early shipping deadlines by a day this year. Kurt Salmon’s data shows that more retailers hedged their bets to temper shoppers’ expectations this season, with “at least 20% of retailers (having) moved forward their deadline, or dropped the ‘guaranteed’ from the delivery promise due to last-minute weather and capacity concerns.”
“Retailers are under huge pressure to deliver on their promises, particularly around the last guaranteed shipping date,” said Kurt Salmon managing director Steve Osburn. “While customers may have been surprised by the movement in the guaranteed last shipping date, retailers’ cautiousness paid off with a higher success rate, leaving no one empty-handed on Christmas morning.”
Kurt Salmon’s analysis credited retailers with taking a more omnichannel approach to fulfilling last-minute holiday orders. “Retailers who had enabled the omnichannel functionality of ‘Buy Online Pick Up in Store’ actually allowed for last-minute shoppers to order up until 6 p.m. on Christmas Eve and pick up their items in the store that night,” according to the analysis.
Several retailers offered incentives for online shoppers to pick up last-minute orders in stores. Sears, No. 14 in the Internet Retailer 2016 Top 500 Guide, offered shoppers 20% off select items including furniture, home decor and apparel that were ordered online and picked up in a store. Pet supplies retailer PetSmart Inc. (No. 340) used a similar approach, offering a similar promotion but for just one day, Dec. 23.
Osburn says shoppers are likely to see more retailers with a bricks-and-mortar presence emphasizing buy online, pick up in store for last-minute shoppers in future holiday shopping seasons.
“With online sales continuing to rise, retailers have to ensure they are operationally competent to deliver on time, they have the ability to change direction at a moment’s notice, and offer flexible delivery alternatives such as ‘buy online, pick-up in-store’, or risk customer disappointment, which can be damaging to even the most loyal relationships,” he says. “Being nothing less than a well-oiled machine at this time of year is simply not an option.”