According to Microsoft, holiday searches begin earlier this year

This year’s holiday shopping season has begun early, and a new Microsoft report aims to make marketers aware of changes in customer expectations.

This holiday season, Microsoft sees four major shifts in the marketplace:

This year’s shoppers will begin early.
Payment and delivery methods other than cash will be in high demand.
Sustainability will be a recurring theme.
The advertising competition will be fierce.

According to Stephanie Worley, Global Brand Marketer for Microsoft Advertising:

“This holiday season, we anticipate growing e-commerce adoption and shopping that will begin earlier than ever. It used to be Black Friday that kicked off the U.S. shopping season, but not this year. Now, 32% of shoppers, bolstered by e-commerce, say they plan to start shopping in early fall.”

The time has come to start thinking about holiday shopping. This year, consumers are approaching things differently.

Holiday Searches & Shopping Start Early

Holiday Searches and Shopping Begin Early shoppers are making holiday purchases earlier this year, but they’ll be using search engines to research products even before that.

76 percent of global consumers purchased a product after conducting online research.
The search was used by 48% of global consumers to find products.
Shoppers who used the search bar accounted for 25% of all global online orders.

According to Microsoft’s data, consumers are doing even more research on products before purchasing them. The research phase can now last 30 days or more.

The research phase is now taking “longer than ever,” implying that businesses must be prepared to meet customers where they are in their purchasing journey.

A longer research phase allows businesses to reach customers before they make up their minds.

Customers Want Options

There’s a good chance that businesses will struggle to keep adequate levels of in-store stock this year.

Avoid customer dissatisfaction by having alternatives on hand, such as gift cards.

According to Microsoft’s data, one in every four customers would buy a gift card if they couldn’t find the item they wanted.

Customers want alternative ways to acquire products that are in stock, such as buying online and picking them up in-store.

If your company provides services such as gift cards, in-store pickup, and buy now, pay later, you should make that information available to all customers.

Sustainability is important. Trendy

Customers are looking for companies, brands, and products that share their environmental and social issues beliefs.

According to Microsoft, the average search volume for sustainability and sustainable products has increased 37 percent per year since 2019.

Advertising has a lot of competition.

According to Microsoft, the holiday season in 2021 will be extremely competitive in retail.

Because of more clicks on competitive queries in the second quarter, cost per click is up 15% over the previous quarter.

To outperform competitors, advertisers should reconsider their keyword and bidding strategies. Read A Beginner’s Guide To PPC Marketing For Small Businesses.