In an effort to try and skip the lineups this holiday season, more consumers will be opting to do their shopping online.
Economic Growth
There will be lots of health and prosperity in the digital realm this holiday season, as accounting firm PwC recently released some interesting findings about how and where people will be shopping this year in their 2018 Holiday Outlook report.
For starters, The US consumer economy is expected to have the strongest growth it has seen since 2005. Not only will shoppers be spending more money over the holidays, but they’ll be doing it more frequently with their handheld devices, as mobile commerce poised to increase by 4%, reaching 16% of total ecommerce transactions.
Image Source: PwC
Pushing the Millennial Button
Those aged in between 23-36 and with a family income of $70,000 or more will be the most prominent users of mobile commerce, with 92% of those surveyed claiming that they’ll either be spending the same or more money than they did last year. 57% of those millennials are also making strong use of digital “buy” buttons, the likes of which are offered on nearly all digital mediums.
Perhaps more interesting however, is the uptick in millennials engaging with shoppable content (42%) like Instagram’s shoppable posts or Pinterest’s lifestyle ad format. The shoppable post style is a relatively new format that has only started to take off this year. Even now, other social platforms are making strides to try and penetrate that market.
Continued Mobile Growth
The mobile market as a whole has achieved some major milestones over the past twelve months. Q2 2018 marked the first time in history that mobile search advertising spend outperformed desktop. Additionally, mobile was also revealed to be the most significant growth factor in terms of video advertising spend, and could reach as high as 70% of all global video starts by the end of the year.
Weighing Your Options
From an advertising perspective, the PwC report certainly presents plenty of opportunities to take advantage of. Mobile commerce is on the rise, millennials are spending more money and using new devices to do so, and new mobile-geared advertising formats are resonating well.
If you’re looking for ways to really capitalize on some of these findings before the holiday rush comes to a close, start by re-examining display platforms like Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram and Snapchat. All four of these platforms have unveiled some big utility additions (like the ones mentioned above).
Once you’ve determined where your ads are best suited, the next step is to take a look at your targeting options. Consider allocating more budget towards a millennial age bracket and measuring how your ads perform with them specifically versus a more broad age grouping.
Device targeting is also something you will definitely want to be drilling down on as well. Some platforms - like Google - have recently made changes to how you can target devices, so make sure to review your targeting options on whichever channels you’ve activated to ensure you’re clear on where your ads are being shown, and if you’re not already, consider including (or even investing more in) mobile placements.
If you have any questions on the evolving digital advertising landscape, or if you want to have a look at some of our top-selling mobile offers that we have available for the holidays, please reach out to your affiliate manager. They’ll be happy to help!