The busiest time of the year for email marketers is just around the corner, and email could produce as much as $20 billion in online sales this holiday season.
Adobe forecasts that online sales in the United States will surpass $100 billion this November and December -- another record-breaking year for retail brands.
Adobe predicts that online sales will increase 13.8% year-over-year to $107.4 billion, with Cyber Monday becoming the largest online shopping day in history with $6.6 billion in sales. Cyber Monday sales will grow 16.5% year-over-year, according to Adobe, with Thanksgiving sales increasing 15% year-over-year to $2.8 billion.
Email accounted for more than 18% of online sales by the end of November in 2016. If email is as powerful a shopping motivator as it was last year, email marketers could potentially generate as much as $20 billion in holiday sales.
Adobe’s forecast is derived from an analysis of one trillion visits to over 4,500 retail sites by Adobe, and the company claims that $7.50 of every $10 spent by consumers online with the top 500 U.S. retailers goes through the Adobe Experience Cloud.
Although Adobe still expects two-thirds of purchases to be made on a desktop computer, it’s important for marketers to be aware that web traffic on smartphones and tablets are predicted to be higher than desktops for the first time this holiday season. Mobile optimization will be critical for marketers, particularly with 54% of consumers first turning to their handheld devices to browse retail deals.
In 2016, a fifth of online sales occurred on a mobile device.