Trump Effect: Holiday Retail Sales Up Double Digits

2017 holiday retail sales totals are up 16 percent year-over-year (YOY) according to an industry data analysis firm and the number of transactions is up 19 percent. The company also reported sales results for Free Shipping Day, December 15, showing retail revenues grew by 16 percent and the number of consumer transactions increased by 14 percent compared to Free Shipping Day last year.

“The uptick in retail holiday sales and transactions directly correlates to strong consumer confidence and a healthy economy, and this positive environment is driving strong eCommerce results for advertisers,” commented Tony Zito, CEO of Rakuten Marketing. “As we approach the end of 2017 and the first weeks of the New Year – periods where last-minute gift purchases and gift card redemptions take priority – marketers must keep consumers engaged in order to capture additional wallet share. Rakuten data shows 27 percent of first-time purchasers purchase a second time but 45 percent of two-time purchasers make repeat purchases. This figure jumps to 66 percent for shoppers who have purchased five times or more from any one merchant.”

With tax reform passed through Congress and set to become law in coming days, consumer confidence at all-time highs and an incredible amount of pent-up demand about to be unleashed, the United States is positioned for annual GDP growth former President Barack Obama was unable to achieve and didn’t think likely.

“In the 21st Century, real GDP growth in the United States is likely to be permanently slower than it was in earlier eras … ,” Obama said in 2013.

President Donald Trump, consumers, regional Reserve Banks and analysts see the future much more brightly.

“We’re not measuring a marginal change in the economy, we’re measuring a different economy,” said Public Opinion Strategies’ Micah Roberts. “2017 is the year that Americans finally put the recession behind them in terms of their attitudes about the economy, and it took a change in leadership.”

Additional Rakuten Marketing 2017 holiday shopping data includes the following:

• YOY mobile revenue for the first half of December increased 67 percent and mobile purchases rose 59 percent. Mobile average order value (AOV) also increased by 5 percent.
• On Free Shipping Day, mobile revenue and mobile transactions increased 52 and 44 percent respectively.
• Mobile sales increased on Green Monday, December 18, with revenues up 51 percent and mobile transactions up 44 percent.
• Consumers are spending more time on advertiser sites in 2017, with the number of pages viewed per site visit up 14 percent in the period of December 1-15, 2017.
• Free Shipping Day revenue peaked at 9 am on December 15, 2017, and Green Monday revenue peaked at 11 am on December 18, 2017.
• Consumers are exceptionally responsive to prospecting strategies and social advertising this holiday selling season. Prospecting strategies drove more than double the revenue in 2017 versus 2016 and social advertising drove four times more revenue over this same period. Prospecting was especially effective on Free Shipping Day with prospecting-driven revenue increasing three times more versus 2016.