Average basket size last year 54% higher on 21 December than Cyber Monday
More items are bought from luxury and high end brands in the days just before Christmas, rather than on Cyber Monday, research from Rakuten LinkShare has found.
The research showed that the average basket size on 21 December was 54 per cent higher than it was on Cyber Monday, and remains well above average throughout the final few days of December.
Mark Haviland, MD of Rakuten LinkShare, said: “This data shows that in the run up to Christmas and beyond, online retailers cannot take their foot off the pedal. In the final few days before the 25 December a huge amount of items are bought online. Online retailers and marketers should take this into account, making sure their brand and products stand out in a very competitive environment, to take advantage of this late surge.
“Brands should work with their CPA network to ensure they encourage consumers to act by offering engaging and powerful reasons to buy in the final run up to Christmas. Discounting and offers are of course popular tools to use, but retailers should also curate collections and highlight the unique selling points of their products aside from price.”
Christmas Day is also becoming an increasingly important day for retailers, with the amount of sales completed on Christmas Day through the Rakuten LinkShare UK network having increased by 73 per cent from 2010 to 2011.