Holiday e-commerce trends on how Asia-Pacific Internet users shop in December

To help retailers develop highly-personalised online campaigns to break through the clutter and attract their target audience, RTB House, a global company providing state-of-the-art retargeting technology based on deep learning for top advertisers, analysed the purchasing behaviours of online shoppers in December. The analysis, conducted with aggregate data from over 40 markets across Europe, Latin America, Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa, revealed that most online visitors in the region shop primarily during the working weeks.

The RTB House study revealed that the start of a working week (Mondays and Tuesdays) is particularly popular among online shoppers. On Mondays, users visit online stores 17% more often than the monthly average. Online retailers also see higher percentage in sales – 38% more than the December’s average.

The best day for e-commerce is 12 December, also known as the 12.12 sales. On this day, the number of shoppers visiting e-shops is 21% higher than the monthly average. Moreover, online shops made nearly 82% more transactions than the December’s average.

Interestingly, online shopping in mid-December, closer to Christmas Eve, falls drastically as consumers shift to offline shopping methods. The frequency of visits in e-shops and e-shopping decreases steadily and reaches the lowest level. During this period, the number of users visiting online stores is 21% lesser than the average in December. The number of transactions is also approximately 30% lower than the average for this month.

“During the second half of December, it may be optimal to tweak online marketing activities to support offline retail sales,” says Chandra Kuncara, country director, South-east Asia at RTB House. “Our study revealed that online shopping is very popular among Asia-Pacific consumers during the first half of December. Major e-commerce stores are also leveraging on this lucrative period with their respective 12.12 sales events. Marketers should not cancel or limit their online advertising activities during this high sales period, but they should be aware of how their marketing will impact retail sales.”

After Christmas, the sales and ad impressions of most online retailers recover. Like other consumers across the globe, shoppers in Asia-Pacific are most likely to click on online ads on 26, 27 and 28 December as they keep a look out for attractive post-Christmas deals, according to RTB House. The number of Internet users eager to click on banners are almost 10%, 7% and 10% respectively, higher than the average for the whole month.

Kuncara added: “Although there is a relatively high number of people visiting online stores during the holiday season, growth in CTR – a metric showing how much users are willing to click on an ad – clearly shows that consumers are looking for specific offers. As such, it will be worthwhile for marketers to plan their advertising expenses based on shopping trends of these Internet users. The more personalised your message is, the more likely it is to attract potential customers in the region. To match the right offer to the right person in real-time, retargeting and artificial intelligence based on deep learning are important tools for marketers and retailers to consider.”