Taking a Closer Look at Black Friday, Cyber Monday & Singles’ Day 2017
It’s official: the holiday season is now underway.
The last weekend of November (Thanksgiving weekend in the US) is the point when the holidays really get set in motion. Between Thanksgiving Thursday and Cyber Monday, consumers around the world spent billions of dollars both in-store and online. Of course, there’s also the Black Friday holiday’s Chinese parallel—Singles’ Day—which took place on November 11, and posted some unbelievable sales figures.
Our new infographic looks at the initial reports from the 2017 events, granting an intriguing and fresh perspective on the holidays. We’ll also offer some predictions for the rest of the holiday season…and beyond.
Copy the code below to embed this infographic on your website.
Singles’ Day and the Thanksgiving weekend may be behind us in 2017, but there’s still plenty to look forward to through the end of the year and into 2018…and even more to watch out for.
The Good:
- Consistent Upward Trend for eCommerce Sales: Online consumer spend during the holidays continues to make substantial YoY increases. If the Thanksgiving weekend serves as a bellwether for the rest of the season—as it has every other year—expect this trend to continue.
- Chinese Consumers are Hungry for eCommerce: China is the world’s largest eCommerce market, and shoppers have a serious appetite for premium, Western goods. It’s an incredible opportunity for US and European merchants, but those who don’t start exploring Tmall, Aplipay, and other unique aspects of Chinese eCommerce will be left behind.
- New Opportunities to Personalize Experiences: Broader use of open data will allow merchants to improve their customer experience. Deeply-personalized experiences that help prevent fraud and drive sales are possible without increasing friction for first-time customers.
The Bad:
- More Sales Mean Increased Returns & Chargebacks: The average retailer will see 25% of total annual returns during the holidays. Returns mean lost sales and greater risk of return fraud. However, you can’t afford not to invest extra attention in the returns process through the new year, as a return is still better than receiving a chargeback.
- Increased Sales = Increased Risk: As online sales increase, so do threats to retailers’ bottom lines. For example, EMV and eCommerce still have a negative relationship, with fraudsters finding it easier to pull-off identity fraud. That problem will only get worse with post-Equifax fraud attacks coming soon.
- EU Regulation Will Complicate eCommerce in 2018: The EU Digital Single Market threatens to create barriers to non-EU retailers, turning the continent into a “walled garden.” Other EU rules like the GDPR and PSD2 will also affect how merchants store data, conduct payments, and go about day-to-day business.
The Ugly:
- Fraudsters Take Advantage of the Holidays…Before & After: You might view increased holiday sales as a gift; unfortunately, so do fraudsters. Your resources are stretched thinner than usual to contend with the increased sales volume, and fraudsters will use that as an opportunity to pull-off criminal fraud attacks.
- Holiday Sales Can Mean New Year’s Chargebacks: The worst time of year for chargebacks comes once the holiday return window runs out, and lasts from late-January through early March. Customers who want a refund after the allowed timeframe might request a chargeback, or even worse, commit deliberate chargeback fraud.
As you can see, the holidays are a double-edged sword for eCommerce merchants. This time of the year carries the potential for massive profits…as well as big-time losses.
Remember: it’s not too late to act. The threat of holiday-related losses carries over into the first several months of the new year, and Chargebacks911® is here to help.
Give yourself the gift of record sales and revenue retention this holiday season. Click below to find out how.
