omnichannel holiday2021 ecommerce holiday trends and

Have Yourself a Very Omnichannel Holiday

2021 eCommerce Holiday Trends and Insights

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02

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Preparing Your Strategy

Shopping Trends & Projections

Best Practices & Next Steps

2021 Holiday Guide

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Holiday Overview

Source: eMarketer. How retailers can start planning for the 2021 holiday season. Feb. 2021

2021 will be a record year for holiday & eCommerce sales

US holiday retail sales forecasted to rise 2.7% to $1.1 Trillion

Holiday Overview

eCommerce is projected to account for a record 18.9% of total sales

Social commerce discovery and omnichannel fulfillment will be key drivers of this growth

Brands must prepare for shifting plans and rising costs

Faster than anticipated reflation of raw materials and fuel costs, and increasing labor cost at 2.6% YoY

Holiday Overview

Costs of social media ads increased over 30% since last year with retail media cost increasing as well

61% of Americans ready for pre-pandemic style celebrations despite uncertainty due to the pandemic

Source: Reuters. Oil up $1.50/bbl as demand recovery seen tightening supply. July 2021Source: Reuters. U.S. labor costs accelerate in the first quarter. April 2021Source: Bloomberg. The Price of the Stuff That Makes Everything Is Surging. May 2021

Source: AdAge. Social Media Ad Costs Are Rising As Consumer Confidence Returns. April 2021Source: The Drum. Who’s really driving the increase in retail media? April 2021

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Consumer drivencommerce can help win the holidays and beyond

Optimize campaigns via real time consumer insights, validating performance against category benchmarks and sales made

Holiday Overview

Forecast demand with accuracy, particularly with retailer and geolocational data

Gather first-party data and leverage third-party measurement tools in preparation for a cookieless future

“Consumers want what they want, when they want it, and how

they want it. We absolutely now have strategies that are

integrated from a full funnel standpoint and we restructured so

that our structure reflects those strategies.”


Charlene ZappaSVP of Integrated Consumer Experience &

Growth, The J.M. Smucker Company

Understanding Your Omnichannel Storefront

Which channels drive the

highest traffic and

purchase intent? Compare

your results against

category benchmarks and

make in flight adjustments.

What consumer

preferences are driving

conversion and which

retailers do they prefer?

Look at geolocational data

to forecast demand.

Price, fulfillment, timing —

what factors are important

to purchase consideration?

Test, learn, and put the

important information first

in your ads.

What’s the average basket

size and what’s the value?

Look at what’s driving

bigger baskets and

identify potential partners

through product

adjacencies.

From social channel to

messaging, what’s actually

driving sales? Take your

learnings to validate and

optimize your strategy and

allocations.

Your customers not only buy your products, they also buy the shopping and fulfillment experience.

Integrate Insights into ActionsFulfillmentPurchaseYour Digital Channels Your Store and

Website

Holiday shopping starts November 1st

This year’s holiday shopping will look different from years before, combining the higher

consumer confidence of 2019, accelerated eCommerce adoption of 2020, and the

omnichannel shopping behavior from 2021 retailer deal days. Let’s explore.

All data and insights from the MikMak Holiday Guide are sourced from theMikMak Shopping Index

The Shopping Index is a collection of key

eCommerce KPIs collected across hundreds of

brands, thousands of retailers, and all major media

platforms to understand consumer online shopping

behavior, provide insights into current and

developing category trends, and forecast demand

and behavior in the online marketplace.

Prepare your omnichannel strategy for a new kind of holiday


Shopping Trends & Projections

“eCommerce data is like trendspotting, and can be combined with

social listening and other information your customers might be

feeding back to you from the physical store environment. It takes

all of those things working together, and organizing [them…], to

put together.”

Doug StratonChief Digital Officer,

The Hershey Company

Forecast demand by geolocationAmazon, Walmart, and Target remain significant retailer carts, but regional and

category specific retailers have also emerged as significant players.

Shopping Trends and Projections Here are trends that will impact holiday shopping:

● 39% of all shopping traffic come from

the South, particularly in large cities

such as Houston, Dallas, and Atlanta

● 51% of all shoppers choose to check

out at Amazon, Target, or Walmart --

all three comparable in their ability to

drive traffic and purchase intent

● 4 out of the top 10 preferred retailer

carts will be category specific,

continuing the importance of a

diversity of retailers at check out

Check your campaigns twice.With unpredictability in consumer behavior forecasted for the

2021 holiday season, keep your eyes on the dashboard as you

drive your campaigns and make those real time adjustments:

Shopping Trends and Projections

Check your strategy using up funnel attribution

to confirm that your optimization is driving sales.

Compare your performance against category benchmarks to make sure that you are growing and protecting market share.

01

02

Drive a bigger holiday shopping basketAs the cost of fulfillment increases due to rising labor costs, fuel costs, and even packaging costs, brands may be looking to protect margins by driving larger shopping baskets and promoting omnichannel fulfillment options such as Buy Online Pick-Up In Store (BOPIS) and click and collect.

The MikMak Shopping Index predicts further increase of items purchased in the holiday basket in 2021.

Consumers have become comfortable with eCommerce as a way to shop, and are encouraged to check out with more products in cart, a positive trend for brands this holiday season.

5.66# of items

purchased in basket(H2 2020 average)

7.40# of items

purchased in basket(H1 2021 average)


This year, shoppers are purchasing 31% more items at checkout

You don’t have to win by yourself Product adjacencies can be found in the most unexpected of places.

Our Shopping Index sources these findings from MikMak Sales Insights,

where you can see basket level data, and discover what else is being added to

cart with your product.

Once you find your product adjacencies, you can:


Here are some product adjacencies that may impact your brand this year:

● Pet foods as popular additions to home

care products

● Beauty and personal care products are

added to cart in grocery baskets

Attract purchases from consumers you

would not traditionally be targeting by

looking outside of your product’s swimlane

Figure out who you should partner up with,

and win together by running campaigns for

the common consumer who wants to buy

both of you at cart

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02

Segment by channel and retailer preferenceWith social commerce maturing in 2020 and 2021, traffic and purchase intent have been

driven more evenly across different platforms. Deal days shopping insights this year

suggest that brands should be capturing demand pockets and taking advantage of trends

that are emerging on a channel and retailer specific level.


Shopping Traffic Purchase Intent

Dark Horse Alert! TikTok is now a major driver of both shopping traffic and purchase intent.

More social media platforms have become sources of online shopping over time

Gather first-party data to identify demand pocketsWith the cookieless future fast approaching and the rising cost of retail media, it’s

time to own your view of the consumer shopping journey. Consolidate your data in

one place for an apples-to-apples comparison of performance. Mix and match

types of data to gain insights on consumer behavior and identify demand pockets.

For example, look at where the most shopping traffic is coming from. Of these

shoppers, which retailer is most preferred?

This year’s winning Channel x Retailer mix is:

Once you have identified demand pockets for your brand or category, you can use it to inform how to allocate your media spend. You can also leverage geolocational data to get even more specific.

Here are some 2021 deal days insights we expect to see again this holiday season:

● West Coast shoppers are 2x more likely to check out when shopping on Amazon

● Shoppers researching products on brand.com are 2x more likely to check out from Walmart


x

Did you know?Social media platforms drove over 52% of all eCommerce traffic in 2021 (to date).

Where are consumers choosing to shop by category in 2021?

Personal Care

Grocery Beauty Alcohol

Toys &Electronics

HomeCare

20% of all shoppers prefer 24% of all shoppers prefer 22% of all shoppers prefer

28% of all shoppers prefer 30% of all shoppers prefer 30% of all shoppers prefer

“As a brand we have to see every occasion, that's

fundamentally the heart of our business. [We can see] the

holiday season globally in some of the data for eCommerce.

It picks up in October and it peaks on December the 25th.

Then there are different tactical events around the world.”


Stuart HeffernanGlobal Head of eCommerce,

Pernod Ricard

Let’s get insightfulFlexibility means identifying when consumers want to choose during their shopping journey, and making it available to them at these points.

Did you know that:

● 2 weeks before an eventis when purchase intent starts to peak. Be available

everywhere during this time.

● Having the right regional retailers

can be as important as having the top national retailers

available at check out.

● Omnichannel preferences

are more diverse close to event date, so allow shoppers

to transition easily between online and in store shopping.


Let’s get creative

● Clear product shot

● Communicate unique benefits to the consumer

● Demonstrate product usage relevant to the holidays

● Clearly state factors that influence purchase

consideration for your shoppers: ie. price, delivery

date, fulfillment options

● Allow omnichannel purchasing


Check Out on Target

Check Out on Walmart Grocery

Check Out on Amazon

Explore Recipes That Inspire at Sabra.com

More Products >

Sabra Classic Guacamole with Lime - 16oz

Your creative has 1.5 seconds to appeal to your consumers! This holiday, your ads should be presented product-first, within the context of specific events, and with factors that customers find important and relevant up front.

Do this for your creative by:

Let’s get strategic

Shorten the path-to-purchase from anywhere Collect first-party data to determine what choices your shoppers want to make when buying

your product, and when and where they want to make them in the shopping journey. Include

omnichannel fulfillment preferences.

Improve marketing effectivenessAre your media investments and strategies driving conversion and sales? Look at attribution

reporting in your dashboard to be sure. Make real time adjustments as necessary.

Protect and gain market share How are your campaigns performing against your competition? Look at your performance

against category benchmarks.

Strengthen retailer positioningConsumers have different shopping behavior and preferences depending on where they

prefer to check out. Understand how consumers engage with your product at each retailer,

and which purchasing factors matter there.


01 Gather first-party data and segment shoppers using consumer insights, looking at channel and retailer specific preferences

03 Forecast demand by location and anticipate inventory needs

02 Win together and drive bigger baskets at retailer cart

Happy Holidays!

Here’s your cheat sheet to prepare for the changing consumer and media landscape.

Ready to get hands on with holiday planning using

category specific benchmarks?

Contact [email protected] for our Category Benchmark and Insights report.

mailto:[email protected]

omnichannel holiday2021 ecommerce holiday trends and

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