Facebook is sharing some new research from FBIQ about how people are shopping online for the holidays these days. Naturally, they’re also reminding businesses that they have various ads and marketing tools that can help them take advantage of these habits.
Do you expect Facebook and/or Instagram to play a significant role in your holiday efforts this year? What specific tools/features? Let us know in the comments.
“Last year’s holiday season signaled a major shift in the way people shop,” a Facebook spokesperson tells WebProNews. “More people started their shopping online, even when intending to buy in store, and mobile traffic also rose. And this year, more people are shopping on mobile – nearly one-third of online transactions are on mobile and the percentage of online purchasers who buy on mobile will grow 30% by Q4 (as shared by FBIQ last week).”
For reference, FBIQ released data on growth in engagement and purchase behavior via mobile devices. Some key takeaways from that were:
– From January to May 2015, 3 in 10 online purchases took place on mobile and the frequency of mobile purchases increased 35%
– Over the course of the year, those purchasing on a mobile device steadily increased and in Q4, Facebook IQ predicts that the percentage of online purchasers who buy on mobile will grow 30%
– 73% of people say mobile devices are always with them
– 45% of all shopping journeys contain an action on mobile—everything from discovering to researching to buying (57% for Millennials)
– In the year ahead, 64% of omni-channel shoppers anticipate doing more research on their smartphones and 61% expect to be using their smartphone more while in physical stores
More on that particular research here.
“As people and businesses increasingly connect on mobile this holiday season, [we] wanted to recap the tools Facebook and Instagram have recently built out related to commerce and direct response that both allow brands to maximize mobile campaigns this holiday season and allow shoppers a personalized discovery experience – for reference Sheryl [Sandberg] called out the growing success of our commerce-related products leading into holiday during last week’s earnings call.”
Facebook says its dynamic product ads allow brands to promote all of their products for the holidays with unique creative “efficiently at scale” without having to configure individual ads. The carousel format, it says, gives marketers more options for “compelling holiday storytelling” in News Feed. This now includes video in addition to images. The format drives 30 – 50 percent lower cost-per-conversion compared to single image link ads, according to the company.
Facebook is also touting Instagram ads, which are now available to businesses globally and Facebook videos (which are seeing 8 billion daily views) as other helpful holiday marketing tools.
To back up its claims, Facebook is sharing research about how people do their online holiday shopping. Stats include:
– 37% plan to do most of their shopping before Black Friday
– In the US and UK, 1 in 2 holiday shoppers plan to do most of their shopping before Black Friday
– 53% plan to shop across channels
– 40% plan to shop online more than last year
– 44% of people say an activity or meal with a loved one is a gift they want, but only 34% plan to give that as a gift
– 41% of people want the gift of travel, but only 15% plan to give the gift of travel
– Last December, 73% of posts, photos, and videos were created on mobile
– People share 28% more photos/videos on mobile during Holiday season vs. rest of the year
– 63% of Instagrammers say they use Instagram to document their lives
– 8 billion daily video views on Facebook, and the vast majority are on mobile
– 74% of Millennials on Instagram take action based on posts
– 2.7X more posts, photos and videos shared on mobile than desktop last December
– Last year, 1 in 4 purchases were on mobile
“People are shopping across more channels and devices more than ever before,” the spokesperson tells us. “Many shoppers are starting early — but many shoppers will also be on the hunt throughout the season.”
“The opportunity for experiential gifting is on the rise—as illustrated by the gap between the experiences that many people hope to receive and what they are likely to receive this Holiday season,” they added. “Mobile has made the holiday celebration vastly more visual…Mobile is a constant companion throughout the Holidays—from discovery to consideration to action to shopping and sharing.”
More in the following infographic:
Do you expect to utilize Facebook’s offerings to drive sales this season? Discuss.
Images via Facebook