October 2022 E-commerce Wrap Up

Trick-or-Treat! Although busy, there's nothing spooky about the first month of Q4! The holiday season has already kicked off with early holiday deals, and retailers are getting to work. With uncertain economies, consumer purchasing behavior has shifted, and it’s imperative that e-commerce businesses take note. As the peak shipping season draws closer, e-commerce demand has gone down, and businesses are doing everything in their power to get consumers excited for the holidays. Let us look back on the e-commerce news for October.

Halloween Trends

Whether or not you celebrate Halloween on October 31st, keeping up with e-commerce trends is important. Halloween 2022 was expected to have been a $10.6 billion retail event for retailers, especially as Halloween participation returned to a pre-pandemic level, according to the National Retail Federation (NRF). For consumers, planning for Halloween began in June, with 24% of Halloween participants planning their Halloween purchases in advance. With that said, most spending actually occurs in the first two weeks of October, according to the NRF. Social media plays a huge role in Halloween-inspired festivities and many businesses got ahead of consumers this year by promoting events, discounts, and more on social media, which helps drive consumer interest for later holiday events. 

Parcel Insurance

As the peak shipping season kicks off, protecting your customers and your business should be your top priority. It is easy to get caught up in all of the crazy holiday planning and you may find yourself wrapped up in shipping drama. During the holidays, the amount of packages increases, and with that comes a higher chance that something may happen to your packages. If you’re dealing with multiple carriers and increased demand, it can get pretty complicated. Insuring your packages is a great way to ensure that even with unexpected circumstances, companies have coverage when it counts. DesktopShipper is now offering Insurance powered by Parcel Protection, an easy way to access insurance for all carriers for a low price. You can easily navigate claims without utilizing multiple software all from within DesktopShipper’s new ShipV2. Simply add insurance directly to the label when creating it and add together the cost of insurance to the total value before printing the label to complete the order. It's as simple as that! 

Have any more questions about insurance? Check out the Ultimate Shipping Insurance FAQ Guide here!

Early Holiday Deals

Last year, discounts on products were nothing to brag about. This year, however, we are already seeing record highs for discounts this season with upwards of 32%, according to Adobe Analytics. Retailers have an inventory surplus. Big discounts can help incentivize customers and compete with other brands on price since consumers are very price-sensitive due to inflation. We are also witnessing earlier and earlier spending with events like Amazon’s first Prime Early Access sale, which occurred on October 11 and 12. More than 100 million items were ordered during the sale and many other companies also held their own promotional event on their e-commerce site. Ad spending has also increased for many brands to help hype up early holiday traffic. 

Cyber Monday Woes?

The traditional start to the holiday season is upon us, and it is expected that major shopping days like Cyber Monday and Black Friday will lose significance this year as e-commerce becomes more of a daily activity and early discounts drive traffic away. Growth during the holiday season is expected to slow compared to years past, reports Adobe, but consumers have already spent over $590 billion online from January to August 2022, which displays an 8.9% growth rate in shopping overall. With all that said,  Cyber Monday is still expected to be the biggest shopping day of the year, with $11.2 billion expected to be spent online. Retailers should be ready to engage with consumers and create experiences that are unique from those offered by other businesses.  

#ShipTip: When push comes to shove, focus on improving technology to help drive traffic and personalization.

BNPL & BOPIS

One of the most significant developments in the retail market is the shift by shoppers towards m-commerce, as more and more consumers began using mobile apps to order retail products for home delivery or curbside pickup. M-commerce is mobile commerce. 90% of millennials, 84% of Gen Xers, and 53% of baby boomers use mobile ordering, according to Zebra Technologies. Shoppers do not distinguish between retail channels and want a seamless experience. Buy now, pay later (BNPL) had great success last year in 2021. But this year, it is predicted that it will decline. On the other side, buy online, pick up in-store (BOPIS), or curbside pickup, will remain relevant, especially right before Christmas. Adobe predicts that it will peak from December 22 to 23 at 35% of all online orders. Consumers are more conscious than ever about overall costs, and savings on shipping costs will be important.