Salesforce, a CRM solutions firm, has released its 2021 Holiday Shopping Report, covering shopping data from over one billion shoppers on the Salesforce Customer 360 platform and activity across commerce, marketing, and service including 24 of the top 30 US online retailers.
Early November and late December online shopping surges allowed retailers to set new sales records. According to Salesforce, consumers spent USD 1.14 trillion online globally and USD 257 billion in the U.S., compared to USD 1.1 trillion and USD 236 billion respectively in 2020.
- Shoppers bought early and late: 30% of global holiday sales were completed by November 22. Cyber Week accounted for 23% of global sales (down from 24% in 2020). 23% of global digital sales were placed between December 18 and December 31 as customers missed tight online cut-off dates imposed as a result of shipping issues surrounding COVID-19. Stores offering curbside or in-store pickup captured 62% of these final global sales.
- Shoppers embraced flexible payments: Over the holiday season in the US, the use of Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) services increased by 40% compared to 2020. Consumers turned to these offerings to offset higher prices. Alternative payment forms, including PayPal, Apple Pay, and Google Pay, also increased by 15% YoY in the US.
- Demand for luxury handbags and home furniture: Luxury handbags had the highest YoY global growth with an increase of 45% in online sales. Home furniture and general footwear trailed closely behind at +34% and +32% growth respectively.
- Social commerce continues to influence buying behaviour: A survey of 1,600 global shoppers from Salesforce’s 4th edition of the Connected Shoppers Report found that by 2023, 25% of shopping is projected to happen beyond a retailer or brand’s website, app, or physical store. Over the 2021 holiday season, 4% of global digital sales on a mobile device were made through a social media app while 10% of mobile traffic originated from consumers browsing through social networks.
- Stores were critical over the holiday period: Physical stores were key throughout the shopping season. 60% of global digital sales were influenced by stores, from generating to fulfilling demand. The evolving role of the store, and staff, helped to break down friction across digital and physical touchpoints.
“Despite the lingering pandemic and countless obstacles such as supply chain logistics, low inventory, and fewer discounts, consumers flocked online to close out this holiday shopping season with a bang,” said Rob Garf, VP and GM of Retail, Salesforce. “As we move into a new year, retailers must push their brands to platforms such as social, gaming, messaging, and the metaverse to engage shoppers where they are discovering and buying products. They must also double down on efforts to reimagine physical stores to support continually changing digital experiences.”
Surging communications and orders
Over the holiday period, Salesforce customers processed more than 283 million online orders on Commerce Cloud, while personalised digital experiences to shoppers. Digital sales powered by Commerce Cloud grew 21% YoY this holiday season.
Global marketing communications made through the company’s Marketing Cloud saw 39 billion push notifications (+440% YoY), 6.5 billion SMS messages (+76% YoY), and 223 billion total emails sent (+73% YoY), as marketers engaged consistently throughout the season.
Artificial intelligence played a large role in driving revenue with 19% of all orders including a product that had been recommended to the shopper.
Agents viewed or worked on cases more than 26 billion times (a 79% YoY increase) and received more than 1.19 billion customer service calls (a 26% YoY increase) over the holiday season.
