E-commerce Update: Expect Online Traffic This Holiday Season

While many customers are returning to shopping in-store this holiday season, it’s important to keep in mind that we are still seeing a surge in online traffic and sales.

The graph below illustrates the sales pattern that IndieCommerce (IC) and IndieLite (IL) websites experienced beginning November 1, 2020, through December 31, 2020. The dark blue line represents online sales revenue, and the light blue line shows the percentage of customers who completed an online transaction on an IC or IL site.

Even though the above graph represents actual sales volume that occurred last year, we’ve highlighted the days where you can expect to see a similar sales pattern for the corresponding days this year. Historically, we see a substantial dip in sales Thanksgiving Day, followed by the four busiest online shopping days of the year. Sales then tend to remain strong through the first and second week of December, with sales spikes occurring each weekend.

One interesting anomaly to note is Christmas Day, which we’ve highlighted in red in the above graph. Note that the increase in the e-commerce conversion rate (light blue line) does not reflect a corresponding increase in sales that day. This is because online traffic that day is significantly lower, but those few customers who do visit your website will be more inclined to complete a purchase. 

Happy Holidays from the IndieCommerce Team!