2018 Retail Sales Projections

With record-low unemployment in the US and consumer confidence at high levels, everything’s looking good for the 2018 retail holiday sales season.

Just how good?

About 5.0 – 5.6% better than last year, which equates to around $1.1 trillion in sales, according to Deloitte.

Their forecast says you should do especially well if you have a “distinctive value proposition.” “Off-price” products will continue to do well. And they believe luxury items should see a rebound.

E-commerce sales will rise 22% through the holidays, compared to just 16.6% from November to January of last year.

And here’s some of the growing trends powering this rise in sales:

1. Shoppers Will Buy More on Mobile Devices than Any Other

This is actually an industry first for all retail holiday seasons. An article at ZDNet notes:

  • 46% of all online orders will happen on smartphones
  • 68% of all consumer traffic will happen by smartphone
  • The total traffic for smartphones will eclipse that of all online traffic for all types of devices in 2015
  • 83% of 18-44-year-olds will use their smartphone in-store

So, what can you do to make sure mobile plays a huge role in your retail holiday sales strategy?

2. AI-Recommended Products Will Drive 35% of All Sales

You know how you’ll see that “People who bought item X also bought,” on many e-commerce sites?

Those recommendations come from AI. Some systems are more sophisticated than others.

You can even see these on websites for quite small businesses.

The article at ZDNet claims this will be a huge trend powering sales growth.

And it makes logical sense as to why.

So, how can you incorporate that into your sales strategy? And, what can you do to make sure it’s more effective than in the past?

3. Video Will Continue to Dominate the Advertising Market

If you’re going to advertise online, where should you do it?

Through video.

2017 saw an astounding 1400% increase in ad requests via video over the previous year. For non-video mobile ad requests, growth was still great, but much smaller (at 200%).

About 80% of brands will increase their video advertising spend in 2018.

It’s definitely worth your time to add video to your marketing strategy, or to increase your budget for it.

That’s what you can expect to see this Holiday Season. So, which trends will you focus on to grow your sales this year?