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Holiday Shopping Around the World 

Unveil growth opportunities that online events bring for your company—what to expect below

Online shopping is now a settled part of our daily routine despite differences in internet speed and evolution globally. With rising online adoption rates across regions and generations, e-commerce is only primed to accelerate in popularity.   

This shift will continue as global consumers remain cautious of what they are spending their money on and how much, especially with inflationary pressures and rising costs of living. As a result, consumers will look for the best deals online and across borders, making global online shopping events a critical strategic tool for manufacturers and brands everywhere.  

With e-commerce rising as a key retail channel generating strong revenue, manufacturers and brands are now encountering a new question of how to boost online sales and continue this growth momentum. Global online shopping festivals and events can be the next area to transform under the e-commerce evolution.  

Underestimating them as a “one-time” event in the yearly sales calendar to generate “additional revenue” is a mistake. In fact, participating in these global online shopping festivals and events can be beneficial for brands in many ways, especially if they are looking for cross-border opportunities. Thanks to e-commerce and its technology, brands can easily set up their online space on global platforms without having to invest the same amount of money required when building physical stores —while avoiding any potential risks this strategy presents.   

With the right data brands can test and track how their products perform by platform and market, which can help decide where to allocate resources and invest in advertising and promotions to improve overall ROI for their business.

Holiday season globally: A deep dive into the impact of major international holidays

Close to a quarter (21%) of the annual global fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) sales can be attributed to major international holidays such as Thanksgiving, Halloween, Christmas, New Year, Chinese Christmas, Ramadan, and Easter. This figure exerts a substantial influence on the global FMCG sales landscape every year. 

What’s remarkable is that the positive influence of these international holidays extends its reach to FMCG manufacturers and retailers across diverse geographical regions. Simultaneously, each holiday season unfolds within unique time frames and periods, adding a layer of complexity and diversity to the impact it delivers.

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25 Days of Insights into the Holiday Season

Get ready to embrace the Holiday Season by unboxing 25 invaluable omnichannel insights, each as diverse and vibrant as the regions they hail from — the Middle East and Africa (MEA), Latin America (LATAM), Europe and the Asia-Pacific (APAC) regions.

Unbox the Full View of Holiday shopping with one insight revealed each day for 25 days.

Regional overview 

Asia Pacific

Imagine a world where 40% of your consumer goods sales occur on one day every month. Well, that is exactly what is happening throughout Asian markets with e-commerce sales. Double Days are causing mass surge sales and redefining the retail landscape across Asia. The success of online promotional programs such as Black Friday and Double 11 has paved the way for Double Days every month. 

The major drivers of these changing purchasing behaviors are evident. When we surveyed Asian consumers on the top factors influencing their online purchases, pricing and promotions came out on top. In addition, we can see that availability, ratings, and delivery are also top of mind, challenging retailers and manufacturers across this ever-growing important channel to meet these consumer demands. With increasing inflationary pressures across countries, consumers are going to double down on their desire to find cheaper prices and promotions, which could mean the importance of Double Days will only grow.  

In 2021, we saw a +956% uplift in sales for facial cleansers on Double 11 in Singapore compared to the previous 3 weeks’ sales, while health supplements/ vitamins saw +494% uplift in sales in Thailand on 10.10. You can see how massive the influence of these Double Days is on sales, and we see this pattern across categories.

China

Singles Day, or Double 11, holds the title of the largest online and brick-and-mortar shopping day in China. Launched in 2009 by Alibaba, China’s top online retailer, the event offers online discounts and offline entertainment.  

In 2023, NielsenIQ ran a survey among Chinese consumers to find out what to expect from this year Double 11. Survey stated that a high majority of consumers in China is willing to participate in the upcoming Double 11 sale: willingness to participate is more pronounced in the 25-34 years old age group​​. The main driver for consumers shopping on Singles Day is “finding great deals” that also compels stocking up of non-perishables​.  

While there are initial signs of recovery, the skepticism still continues. A little more than a third (38%) of surveyed consumers are concerned about the inflation, while a 86% say that their spending would be curtailed to some extent. ​At the same time, more than 60% are likely to spend more than 1K in the upcoming sale. However, almost 2/5th are likely to spend lesser than last year.

Most Chinese shoppers are looking to buy cost effective products, followed by specific imported and famous brands​. In terms of categories, most shoppers plan to purchase FMCG categories (home care and PC). Apart from FMCG, other non FMCG categories like Apparel and Tech/ Electronics are also likely to gain from this sale​. As for prefered platforms, Chinese consumers are choosing ‘Redbook’, followed by Tmall and Tiktok​ for recommendations. For live streaming rooms for purchase, reliability seems to be a key: brand flagship store and top influencers are the main ones to choose for this purpose.


Mid-autumn Festival & National day Holiday in China

The beginning of October witnessed the first Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day holiday after the post-pandamic worry of “re-infection” dissipated. Although consumers’ “revenge consumption” has begun to return to rationality, the vitality of the consumer market during the Golden Week has not diminished. Under the dual-holiday effect, the consumer market has warmed-up.

Download the free infographic on how these holidays went this year or get in touch with our expect for more insights.

Europe

Fall is a peak season for global online shopping events in Europe which are drawing lots of attention in the current inflationary environment.

Interestingly, despite inflationary concerns, last year Amazon organized a second edition of their Prime Day during the same year—for the very first time. Prime Day in 2022 took place July 12-13 in more than 20 countries—with “Early Access Prime Day” taking place on October 11-12 in 15 markets (exclusive to its Prime members).  

In Western Europe, data from Foxintelligence confirms that the exclusive flash sales of October 2022 did not exceed July’s Prime Day. Across the five major European markets (UK, DE, FR, IT, ES), Amazon gained indeed an average of six points in market shares*. While this is one of the best performances of Amazon this year, this remains lower than the Prime Day held in July 2022 (+14 points). 

This year Prime Days continued to generate enormous uplift in sales with Italy leading the way. Online value sales at 12:00 vs last 7 days for Italy showed +393% growth, followed by Germany (+330%) and Spain (+315%).

In its report based on the online purchases of more than 1M panelists in Europe, Foxintellingence has also spotted the main products purchased during those two days.


Wonder what the results of October Prime day are?

Download the infographic now and supercharge your online sales.


Coming next: Double 11, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday 

Other major shopping events are coming soon, including Double 11, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday in November. According to NielsenIQ Foxintelligence, European countries including France, Germany, Spain, and the United Kingdom all saw a peak in online sales during Black Friday in 2022. Interested, how it will go this year? Join the webinar!  

Webinar: State of E-commerce in Europe in 2024

Join our experts for an exclusive presentation of the H1 2024 E-commerce Report, covering insights from 6 European countries: France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the UK, Ireland, Austria, the Netherlands, and Belgium. Gain the strategic insights you need to succeed in 2024!

Latin America

The biggest online event for most of countries in LatAm is Black Friday. According to NielsenIQ Ebit, Brazilian shoppers concentrated more than half of their purchases (57%) in online stores during Black Friday 2022, versus 22% in the offline market.  

The online consumption intention for 2023’s Black Friday is stable (79%) in Brazil, aligned with the previous year. And the pre-Black Friday actions gain relevance, showing an increase of +4.p.p previous year.

Durable goods categories, such as Electronics, Home Appliances and Computers, stand out in Brazilian online shoppers’ purchase intention for 2023’s BF. Possibly a reflection of the promotional actions around those higher-priced products during the shopping event.   

Price and Free Shipping tend to continue to be the main levers for the completion of online orders during Black Friday 2023.

Middle East and Africa

E-commerce is a rising star in the Middle East. For example, E-commerce’s accelerated growth in recent years in Türkiye is maintained in 2022. When we look at the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabian markets, which are still developing in terms of E-commerce, we see a very strong growth performance compared to offline. These 3 markets stand out globally. For those countries, the food categories stand out among the largest growing groups in E-commerce, meaning shoppers are gaining more omnichannel habits. 

Even though online events are not as big in Middle East Africa region as in other advanced markets, we can still see a big impact of these holiday events. According to the results of the NielsenIQ Türkiye E-Commerce Panel, E-commerce sales in Türkiye accelerated, especially during the seasonal and retail holidays of Valentine’s Day, Back-to-School, 11.11, and Black Friday. Correctly understanding these occasions is critical for retailers and manufacturers. 

Interestingly, each period has different category dynamics with the top 5 best-selling categories in 11.11, where the most substantial seasonality was experienced, were decorative cosmetics, Turkish coffee, hand dishwashing detergents, skin care products, and fabric detergents. 

North America

In 2022, we saw an instore sales comeback during pivotal seasonal moments while e-commerce growth stabilized in many markets. But this year, we could be headed for a resurgence in online shopping for holiday meals and celebrations. Flat or declining instore assortments and increased demand for deal shopping could reinvigorate online sales this season.

Here’s a breakdown of what holiday staples US consumers are buying across channels: 

2023 Deal Days  

Deal Days have emerged as significant shopping events for CPG products. Recent data reveals that Prime events from major online retailers can rival, and in some cases, surpass, the sales CPG figures seen during the Black Friday week. 

Most consumers are approaching Deal Days and the whole holiday season with savings in mind — 85% of US consumers surveyed are looking to spend less or the same amount as last year during Deal Days. With an ongoing cost-of-living crisis, consumers are highly motivated to cut costs and take advantage of deals — 23% of US consumers surveyed stated that they depend on deal days and sales because they are unable to pay full price for products.   

Here are interesting facts about 2023 holiday season spending:  

  • The majority (73%) of Prime Big Deal Day shoppers surveyed spent under $200; with a most (70%) purchasing 6 items or less. 
  • 55% of shoppers surveyed noted that they were repeat shoppers from July’s Prime event with 40% of consumers surveyed reporting that they spent less than they did in July. 
  • 80% of consumers who shopped this week’s Prime Big Deal Day event noted that they have completed up to 25% of their holiday shopping 
  • Consumers shopped this week’s Prime Big Deal Day to deal seek (close to 40%). While this is the unofficial kickoff to the holiday spending season, this fall event was equally seen as a time to stock up on everyday essentials AND to holiday shop (both 31%). 
  • A majority (69%) of consumers surveyed still plan on shopping Black Friday. 

Calculated Celebrations:

A Guide to Essential Spending for the 2023 Holidays

In a time when budgeting is more important than ever, “Calculated Celebrations: Holiday Habits” provides an insightful exploration into the 2023 holiday spending landscape and shopping trends. This report by NIQ delves into the nuanced choices consumers are making between essential and non-essential spending, and their approaches to holiday budgeting.

Black Friday Results in the US

Join the experts from Foxintelligence and NielsenIQ on December 7th for an informative session where we will share unique ecommerce data and insights beyond Black Friday 2023 in the US. This will help you strategize and succeed during challenging times and capture and nurture new sources of growth.

Beauty Vertical
Beauty Vertical

Global Holiday Outlook : Beauty

The holiday season provides many opportunities for the Beauty sector, from gifting to self indulgence and holiday primping for those family gatherings and big nights out! However, with inflation reducing purchasing power, where do we expect consumers to cut back this year?

Download our “Global Holiday Outlook : Beauty” deck to find out more.


Here are 5 trends we saw from beauty and personal care shoppers last holiday season, which will continue to affect the industry:

The holidays are a key selling period for the beauty category due to both gifting and social opportunities.

Learn more about the upcoming holiday performance by downloading our report today.

Make Your Holiday Sales Beautiful – Contact us today!

NIQ Beauty Buzz

Will TikTok sales go viral this Christmas?

Since TikTok shop launched within the UK, they have made a significant impact within online beauty retail. With more than a third of online beauty sales occurring in the last quarter of the year, what can we expect from TikTok Shop during the crucial Christmas shopping period of 2023?

NIQ Insights Can Make All the Difference This Holiday Season.

Tech and Durables Vertical
Tech and Durables Vertical

Black Friday 2023 outlook

The introduction as well as the success of the second Prime Day 2023, in particular for certain categories, is an interesting development in the intense competition of the golden quarter and seasonal promotional events. One potential impact could be a negative effect on Black Friday performance due to consumers already having access to some deals. Whether this materializes is yet to be seen but if it does, the impact is likely to be relatively small.

This year’s Black Friday event is expected to be stable in terms of demand with a slight rise in volume share from 7.6% to 7.9%. But actual growth in volume terms is down by around 10% . So what is actually happening? The market already has low demand and price sensitive consumers are planning purchases and buying products they want during promotions. This is leading to more and more retailers and brands participating in this event. As the contribution increases so does the importance of this year’s event. But in absolute volume terms, it is unlikely to be as successful as last year.

Predictions for this year’s Black Friday across the technical consumer goods (TCG) categories are broadly in line with what we saw during the second Prime Day. All categories are expected to perform higher in terms of contributions than the benchmark – except the cooling category, which looks set to see a slight drop. Once again though, small appliances such as vacuum cleaners and food preparation appear likely to see the biggest opportunities.


What are the key takeaways for brands and retailers?

This year’s golden quarter is going to be challenging for many businesses. With cautious shoppers and the likelihood of lots of brands opting for big discounts, brands need to tread carefully. January is traditionally a time when consumers reign in their spending after the holidays. If this reduced level of discretionary spending continues into the New Year, 2024 is going to be a pivotal year for many businesses.

Here are some ways that brands can build better promotional strategies for the months ahead:

Solid strategies require solid data. We can help you keep up to date with changes in your market.

Harnessing the Power of Seasonal Events: Key learnings

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