INTELLIGENT SECTION
FINANCE SALES & MARKETING HR SOLUTIONS EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT
Salesforce predicts higher prices this holiday season
Salesforce has announced new consumer insights and predictions for the 2021 holiday shopping season .
While online sales growth is expected to be moderate compared to last year ’ s historic 50 % surge and more in line with prepandemic growth trends , digital shopping habits formed during the pandemic will persist and drive total sales to record rates for this holiday season .
Increased costs appear to be front and centre this year for retailers , suppliers and consumers – for a multitude of reasons . Three key forces that have exerted significant pressure on the global supply chain are : manufacturing capacity , logistics costs and the labour shortage .
Product availability takes over shipping delays as this holiday ’ s spoiler
One of last year ’ s biggest challenges was fulfilment delays to consumers ’ doorstep . While concerns persist this year , it is much less pervasive . Overall , Salesforce projects a 94 % decrease in packages at risk of being delayed , or 40 million packages worldwide , down from 700 million last year . Just five million packages are expected to be at risk of delay in the US .
No more Christmas ‘ cookies ’: marketing departments disrupted by new change
With global legislation and changing consumer preferences giving way to increased Internet privacy , marketing departments are facing one of the greatest disruptions they ’ ve seen in the last five years . Tracking user activity through thirdparty data across the web and mobile applications is expected to become more expensive , if not impossible and first-party data – data that organisations collect and manage on their consumers – will be king .
Loyalty programmes , social media engagement and personalised email marketing are expected to offer opportunities to marketers in the battle for first-party data , with Salesforce projecting 30 % growth in e-commerce traffic from social referrals and an 18 % rise in email marketing across November and December , compared to last holiday season .
Brick-and-mortar locations become a critical part of digital strategy
The combination of store associates – fulfilling online orders , offering an endless aisle of products , serving digital shoppers and becoming social influencers – along with shoppers making purchases on mobile devices while in the store , indicates that physical locations will serve as a critical component of digital strategies this holiday .
As a result , more than six in 10 global online orders are predicted to be influenced by brick-and-mortar locations – either by helping to place an online order or by fulfilling it via curbside pickup options . At the same time that labour shortages are wreaking havoc in the lead up to the holidays , it ’ s becoming more critical than ever for store associates to meet rising consumer expectations . x www . intelligentcxo . com
51