2018 Holiday Shopping Predictions

Author: Anonym/Monday, October 29, 2018/Categories: Home Internet

Holiday shopping can be very fun, but it can also be very stressful. Mostly, it’s stressful because of our fear of the unknown: what will be on sale? Will I be able to get that item I need for my children?

One way to fight the unknown is to figure out what’s coming next. And that’s why we put together this guide to our predictions for the 2018 holiday shopping season!

Saying the Magic Words

One big technological change that occurred is how we interact with our various smart devices. Just look around: In many homes, people will now ask their Alexa to play their favorite music, or ask Siri to set reminders on their phones, and so on.

Some retailers have already released special apps to make it easier for consumers to order products by voice, and we predict that’s going to become an even bigger concept for this holiday season. However, a good voice assistant program is only part of the equation: you need to make sure that you have fast and reliable internet so that your orders go through just fine.

Black Friday: Online and Bigger Than Ever

As a shopping phenomenon, Black Friday has only grown in recent years. But there has been one change: how many people use online shopping for their Black Friday needs instead of busting down the doors at their favorite local stores.

Amazon has reigned king for online Black Friday (and, of course, Cyber Monday), and we predict even more people will buy from them this year. After all, they commanded 54.9% of all online transactions on Black Friday in 2017. They’ve basically mastered the psychological art of sales, offering a mixture of daily deals as well as “lightning deals” that quickly disappear.

If you want to capture lightning in a wallet and get everything you need for the holidays, make sure you have an internet connection that is fast enough to keep up!

Sales? More Like “Cells”

Once upon a time, the desktop computer was how all of us connected to the internet. However, smartphones became a real game-changer. And now? It’s official: more of us browse the internet on our smartphones and other mobile devices than we do by traditional computer access. Specifically, 57% of users visit sites via mobile device and 37% visit via desktop PC.

This has caused some major changes in internet commerce, and we feel confident this is going to have a major effect on the holiday shopping season. In fact, we think more people are going to buy online this season than offline.

However, all that browsing is going to cut into your cellular data if you’re not careful. That’s why you need a fast internet connection at home: so you can browse sales to your heart’s content!

Fast Checkouts and Free Shipping

Why are so many people likely to order online? It comes down to two big factors: free shipping and fast checkout.

Free shipping is pretty self-explanatory: if customers can have everything they want delivered to their door for free, they are likelier to shop online. Amazon, for instance, has perfected the art of luring people back for free shipping. And a recent Return Customer survey found a whopping 93% of participants would choose free shipping over other benefits such as discounted prices, free items with purchase, and so on.

And fast checkout has created a culture of “one click shopping.” Online vendors save info such as your address and payment method so that when you want to buy something, you don’t have to even take out your wallet.

We think more online vendors than ever are going to offer fast checkouts and free shipping. Obviously, security is important when you are storing your payment methods online, so make sure you have an internet connection that is completely safe and secure!

Final Thoughts

With all of this focus on online sales, it turns out that all of us have a bit of Maverick from Top Gun in us. Specifically, we have the need…for speed!

Let’s face it: you need internet at the speed of shopping. To get ready for this upcoming holiday season, check out the speeds at Consolidated Communications.

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