As Black Friday and Cyber Monday creep closer and closer, we wanted to review some of the statistics from last year and see how brands could prepare themselves and reach their customers effectively this year. To prep, we took another look at IBM’s 2012 Cyber Monday Report. These were the biggest takeaways:
Multiscreen shopping
Of the shoppers who used mobile devices to find Cyber Monday deals, 58.1% used smartphones and 41.9% used tablets.
Early and late peaks
Cyber Monday 2012’s shopping activity peaked at 11:25 am EST, and then increased again after commuting hours.
Mobile shopping increase
Overall, 17% of shoppers used a mobile device to visit a retailer’s site.
Social wasn’t the big winner
Shoppers referred from social networks only generated 0.41% of all online sales on Cyber Monday.
So, how can brands learn from last year’s Cyber Monday performance to better prepare for this year’s activity?
Make sure your site and sales sections are mobile friendly across all devices.
Ensuring that your potential buyers can easily access your site, your Cyber Monday deals, and then complete the checkout process is essential for Cyber Monday success. If you don’t have the time to make improvements this year, be sure to keep track of any and all potential problems for this year and then make adjustments in preparation for next year. Making your mobile site (or app) as easy to navigate as possible will help make the overall shopping process easier and more successful for your brand.
Optimize your posts (and online presence) for the peak buying times.
Planning to create social posts around the peak performance times will increase their potential visibility. Also, planning to have customer reps standing by on all online fronts during these peak times will help resolve any potential problems quickly, particularly during the times when your site could be seeing the most traffic.
Don’t place too much weight on social.
Obviously, it’s important to share your deals with your social networks, but don’t rely solely on them to drive traffic to your site. Instead, rely on a combination of elements, including social posts, email blasts and even display ads, to help alert consumers and drive them to your sales.
Looking for more inspiration? Find out how consumers turned their attention to apps for last year’s holiday shopping season.
