Fashion retailers can have good Christmas, but must look beyond Black Friday - report

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Sep 25, 2019

If fashion retailers can hold their nerve and get their strategy right, they could recover from the bruising summer season over the festive period, a new study is claiming.

Affiliate marketing specialist CJ Affiliate said that while the summer season was tough this year, with both in-store and online retailers forced to slash prices early, “the Christmas season will be a chance to make up for it. Christmas sales could double or even triple revenue and orders growth, and apparel goods are set to be the most popular purchase.”

It’s basing this view on a selection of data that showed the popularity of fashion in last year’s festive season and said that on Cyber Monday alone in 2018, online apparel orders increased by 37% year-on-year.

In fact, the company’s Holiday Intelligence Report said clothing saw the biggest rise in order and revenues of all categories for the Christmas season and was the most purchased category.  

But the company is also warning retailers against putting all their eggs in one basket given that “Black Friday and Cyber Monday [are] losing their dominance”. It said other emerging high sales conversion periods “will likely play an even bigger role in 2019.”

How so? Well, Black Friday boasted the most orders in one day last year, but the following weekend saw more customer conversions. Order growth increased by 33% and sales by 24%, “demonstrating how British consumers like to shop in their free time at the weekend.”

Panic-buying also means the third week of December should account for the greatest increase in orders and revenue growth year-on-year. The week boasted triple-digit growth (111%) in orders and almost doubled its revenue and share of winter sales (45%) last year. 

Meanwhile, Boxing Day sales continue to play an important role for British consumers, with year-on-year order growth matching that of Black Friday (20%) last year and generating greater sales growth at 8%, compared to 5% growth on Black Friday.

CJ Affiliate added that 46% of UK winter sales orders in 2018 were made on smartphones, beating purchases made on desktops for the first time and highlighting the need to “not only push mobile-first marketing approaches but to also consistently ensure a great mobile user experience throughout the customer journey, including easy mobile checkout options, to convert more shoppers this year.”

“For fashion brands targeting British consumers, mobile promotions and easy mobile checkout will win out this year,” said Jules Bazley, Regional VP of the firm. “However, this alone will not cut it, consumers are savvier, carrying out their own research, checking reviews and they expect a lot more from their shopping experience. To really make the most of the winter season opportunities this year, marketers need to be executing campaigns that put consumers’ needs first through creating a seamless, holistic shopping experience across all devices.”