New York, December 8, 2005 – Performics, the performance-based marketing division of DoubleClick Digital Advertising Solutions, today unveiled sales data and trending information on the e-commerce holiday shopping season. The four “Cyber Mondays” that occur between Thanksgiving and Christmas are the peak volume days during the holiday online shopping season. Cyber Monday 2 and Cyber Monday 3 consistently generate the highest volumes. Therefore, December 5 and December 12 are likely to be the largest sales volume days of the 2005 holiday season. Cyber Monday 1, or the Monday after Thanksgiving, consistently outperforms the bricks-and-mortar champion Black Friday.
“These trends provide marketers with the foresight to anticipate peaks in sales volume and prepare accordingly,” said Chris Henger, vice president of marketing and product development at Performics. “Online retailers can make more specific predictions by considering their product mix, and this year, retailers should recognize the impact of Cyber Monday 4 due to the extra time before Christmas, which falls on a Sunday.”
Two primary variables can impact these trends from year to year: whether Thanksgiving falls early or late in November and the day of the week on which Christmas falls. In 2005, for example, many e-commerce sites can still offer guaranteed shipping on Cyber Monday 4, December 19, because adequate time remains prior to the Christmas holiday for many to guarantee delivery. This could result in a higher level of e-commerce sales on Cyber Monday 4 than in previous years. See the editor’s note at the close of this news release for directions to access a graphic/chart that details sales peaks on Cyber Mondays and other days throughout the holiday season. Figure 1 below outlines the percentage increase in year-over-year sales from 2004 to 2005.
Action items for marketers:
- Consider product assortment: The nature of products sold will have an impact on the sales peaks of individual marketers. Personalized, monogrammed or other custom made products, for example, are more likely to peak earlier. Low consideration or perishable items such as gift cards or food, however, are more likely to peak later, on Cyber Monday 3 or 4.
- Understand the promotional strategy and shipping offers. Early in the holiday shopping season and through Cyber Monday 3, marketers can achieve substantial results with free shipping. Different promotional strategies, such as “buy two get one free” or dollars off promotions, should be considered.
- Prepare operationally for the peaks. Although marketers tend to ramp up prior to the holiday season, this data can provide more specific predictions that can help day-to-day planning efforts for call center staffing, inventory, logistics, site traffic and other considerations.
- Slow down on Saturdays. Each week during the holiday season, the data shows a dramatic spike on Monday, followed by a gradual decrease throughout the week and ending with the softest sales volume on Saturday. Sunday begins a slow climb that spikes on Monday.
Methodology:
This trending analysis is based on Performics’ year-over-year e-commerce sales data for online retailers. Performics tracks e-commerce sales volume in conjunction with the management of affiliate and/or search engine marketing programs for more than 300 advertisers. The data have been normalized to mimic the offline metric of same store sales and to account for growth in Performics’ client base to ensure the data better reflect overall trends in e-commerce and organic industry growth.
About DoubleClick Digital Advertising Solutions
Performics is the performance-based marketing division of DoubleClick Digital Advertising Solutions and is a leading provider of Affiliate, Search and Data Feed Marketing Solutions.
DoubleClick Digital Advertising Solutions, an operating unit of DoubleClick, provides technology and services that empower marketers, agencies and Web publishers to work together successfully. Its focus on innovation, reliability and insight enables clients to improve productivity and results.
Since 1996, DoubleClick has empowered the original thinkers and leaders in the digital advertising industry to deliver on the promise of the rich possibilities of our medium. Today, the company’s DART and Performics divisions power the digital advertising marketplace. Tomorrow, it will continue to enable clients to profit from opportunities across all digital advertising channels as consumers worldwide embrace them. DoubleClick has global headquarters in New York City and maintains 21 offices around the world to serve its more than 1500 clients.