As evidenced by Cyber Monday stats, online is driving holiday season buys, and footwear may be seeing a boost because of it.
According to Adobe Digital Insights, Cyber Monday set a record for the largest shopping day in history, raking in $6.59 billion.
In the footwear sector, specifically, NPD found that year to date online purchases accounted for 27 percent of fashion footwear sales, with dollar volume flat compared to last year, according to Beth Goldstein, NPD executive director, and industry analyst for footwear.
For the holiday season, Goldstein said fashion footwear sales could reach between 30 percent to 33 percent, with online growth expected to increase in the mid-single digits compared to last year’s festive season.
Increased online sales in footwear cost brick-and-mortar, which saw sales flat compared to last year’s January-October period, and down 7 percent compared to holiday 2016.
Consumers are increasingly shopping for shoes online. In 2016, 26 percent of fashion footwear sales in the U.S. were made online from January to October, which was a 7 percent increase over the same period in 2015. By holiday 2016, the percentage of sales made online jumped to 29 percent, or 10 percent growth over the prior year period.
Goldstein said online promotions are expected to continue throughout the holiday season, giving shoppers more opportunities to get discounted goods.
“Cyber Monday is now behind us, with seemingly record results. Predictably…many of the ‘screenbusters’ have been extended and are running through what is now Cyber Week,” wrote Goldstein. “And, we’ve still got Green Monday (a newer shopping holiday with “green” referring to money, not the environment), and Free Shipping Friday coming up mid-month, all likely to extend beyond one day as well.” Green Monday falls on Dec. 11 this year, and Free Shipping Friday will round out the week on Dec. 15.
In separate Black Friday weekend analysis, Matt Powell, NPD VP and industry analyst, reported “soft” Thanksgiving weekend sales in the athletic category, and said the industry saw soft sales despite the heavy discounts, which ranged, on average, from 25 percent to 50 percent.
“All in all, it was a weaker start to Holiday 2017 for the U.S. sports industry, but given an earlier Thanksgiving this year and with almost four weeks to go before Christmas, there is opportunity for the industry to rebound from a soft Thanksgiving weekend,” Powell wrote.