56 Christmas Marketing Statistics to Know for This Holiday Season

Most companies start planning their Christmas marketing strategy long before the actual holiday. That’s why it may seem like the Christmas season starts earlier and earlier every year! However, holiday marketing campaigns really go into full effect during the months of November and December. During this time, businesses around the world start filling inboxes with notes, coupons, special sales and more. If you’re smart about it, Christmas is one of the very best times of year to engage with your customers and boost sales. The key is to create campaigns that can get heard above the noise of all the other Christmas offers. You want to send out special content that delights your customers and makes it easy to engage, share and take advantage of deals. It’s worthwhile to invest in high-quality content for this time of year — and if you have any doubt that is true, take a look at these Christmas marketing statistics that will make you a believer.

Christmas Email Stat #1: 2020 Holiday online sales at $209 Billion

According to NRF, U.S. retail e-commerce holiday season sales in 2020 were $208 billion. That number is too big to ignore! Everyone is out shopping for gifts for friends, family, co-workers and more, and they want to know about your offerings. The number is only expected to grow, so set yourself up for big sales this holiday season. You can read about the most anticipated trends to stay ahead of the game.

Christmas Email Stat #2. Average gift spending is $752 per person

The average amount spent on Christmas gifts in the U.S. is $752 per person according to Statista. There’s no other time of year where people shell out so much cash to buy gifts. Everyone who celebrates Christmas is on the hunt for the perfect items to buy for their loved ones, so get your product in front of their faces! Read this article for awesome cross-sell techniques you can use after you’ve initially enticed a customer.

Christmas Email Stat #3. 75% of Gmail users consume email via mobile devices

TechCrunch reported that 75 percent of Gmail’s 900 million users access their accounts via mobile devices. This means that your newsletter is likely to be read by someone on their phone, whether they are sitting at a desk or walking down the street. Tailor your emails toward this audience by making your newsletters easy to read and digestible — the big offer should be apparent in a quick scroll. Check out this article for more mobile behavior data and stats.

Christmas Stat #4. Personalized email gets 5% higher open rates

Statista found that the open rate for emails with a personalized message was 18.8 percent compared to 13.1 percent without any personalization. You can’t argue with email marketing statistics like these! Boost your open rates significantly by using marketing automation to make your email more personalized in your next email marketing campaign.

Christmas Email Stat #5. 33% of recipients judge an email based on its subject line

Convince&Convert found that 33 percent of email recipients open email based on the subject line alone. That means you better come up with a pretty compelling Christmas subject in order to make sure your email gets read! Check out some examples of great holiday subject lines here. Caution: Show great attention to this statistic, as it can greatly impact the effectiveness and overall success of your Christmas email campaign.

Christmas Email Stat #6. Average order value is 3x higher on email than on social media

According to McKinsey, the average order value of an email is at least three times higher than that of social media. This means that customers who receive a personalized Christmas email campaign from you are likely to spend three times as much in your e-commerce store. Furthermore, when compared to the cost of email, the ROI for email marketing is much higher than for social media.

Christmas Email Stat #7. Monday produces the highest revenue per email

According to Experian, Monday emails produce the highest revenue per email. Using marketing automation to set up your Christmas emails to go out on Monday is a good idea to ensure that you get higher open rates and that you increase your revenues. Read here to find out more info about the best times to send your Christmas emails this year.

Christmas Email Stat #8. Email with relevant content generates 18 times more sales

Relevant emails drive 18 times more revenue than broadcast emails, according to Jupiter Research. You can use data you’ve collected to segment your subscribers and create targeted, personalized emails to improve the performance of your campaigns. For more information on segmentation strategies, check out this post.

Christmas Email Stat #9. Nurtured leads spend 47% more

Nurtured email leads make 47 percent larger purchases than non-nurtured leads, according to The Annultas Group. Use marketing automation to create an automated series that delivers your best content to subscribers over time, and it’ll pay off. This can save you tons of time and money as opposed to trying to nurture leads individually. Here are some great examples of lead nurturing emails you can use as templates for your Christmas Campaign.

Christmas Email Stat #10. Behavior-triggered emails have 8x more clicks

Experian found that action or behavior triggered emails have eight times more opens and clicks than any other type of email and can generate six times more revenue. These are emails that are triggered by a user’s interaction with a web app, such as signing up or making a purchase.

Christmas Email Stat #11. 75% of email sales are generated by triggered email campaigns

According to DMA, over 75 percent of email revenue is generated by triggered campaigns, rather than one-size-fits-all campaigns. Automated email campaigns account for 21 percent of email marketing revenue. You can capitalize on big sales by using triggered campaigns for Christmas. Here are some examples of companies that did a stellar job of pulling this off.

Christmas Email Stat #12. Targeted emails generate 58% of all revenue

DMA also found that segmented and targeted emails generate 58 percent of all revenue. Christmas is a perfect time to create segmented and targeted lists that will land in the right spot.

Discover more interesting Christmas Marketing Statistics

• Ecommerce giants continue to outbest SMEs with the large corporate having a 110% increase in revenue and the SMEs having an improvement of 104%. (Adobe, 2021)
• The total amount of the holiday retail sales in 2020 skyrocketed to $789.4 billion. (National Retail Federation, 2021)
• Holiday retail sales in 2020 even surpassed the projected sales ($755.3 billion and $766.7 billion) (National Retail Federation, 2021)
• Out of these sales the amount of $209 came from digital and non-store sales (National Retail Federation, 2021)
• Last Christmas, the families in the US, paid approximately $1,387 per household for holiday shopping. (Deloitte, 2021)
• The retail sales for the holiday season in 2020 surpassed the ones that took place in 2019 by 8.3%. (CNBC, 2021)
• Holiday sales account for 30% of all retail sales that happen through the year. (MuchNeeded, 2021)
• 40% of the Christmas sales in 2020 took place from the 15th to the 24th of December. (MuchNeeded, 2021)
• In the US, the Christmas shoppers paid in total $201.32 billion in digital purchases. (Digital Commerce 360, 2021)
• Predictions for 2021, say that online retail sales will reach up to 16.3% of total retail sales. (GlobeSt, 2021)
• For 2023, the online sales are expected to rise up to 18.3% of the total holiday sales. (GlobeSt, 2021)
• By 2025, the digital holiday sales are predicted to be the 19.9% of the total amount of sales. (GlobeSt, 2021)
• Up until 2022, ecommerce retail sales will comprise 16.3% of all retail sales. (eMarketer, 2021)
• In the US, the holiday retail sales increased by 3% because of the elongated Christmas season in 2020. (Mastercard, 2021)
• In the 2020 Christmas holidays, we experienced a rise of 16.2% for the home furniture industry in comparison with the previous year, the biggest rise out of all industries. (Mastercard, 2021)
• On the opposite side, the sector of apparel had a decline of 19.1% of YOY retail sales. (Mastercard, 2021)
• 56% of consumers are planning to do their holiday shopping before December. (LocalIQ, 2021)
• 91% of shoppers say that they are doing their holiday purchases at the last minute. (Inmar, 2021)
•  30% of holiday shoppers claim that the last-minute grabs take place a week or two before and 7% of them claim they’ll even perform holiday spending one day before Christmas. (Inmar, 2021)
• Because of the fear of delivery delays and supply-chain shortages, 39% of shoppers are going to start their shopping activities earlier than usual for this holiday season. (Deloitte, 2021)
• The aggregate holiday spending is predicted to accelerate over the $1 trillion dollars in the US for the first time ever. (eMarketer, 2021)
• Experts predict that for November & December 2021 the holiday sales are expected to increase by up to 5%. This period is projected to take in up to $859 billion. (CNBC, 2021)
• For the 2021 holiday season, shoppers are predicted to pay 7% more than they did the previous year. (RoiRevolution, 2021)
• An increase of 4.4% has been noticed over the past five years for  holiday retail sales. (CNBC, 2021)
• Consumers with higher monthly incomes, are predicted to pay up to 15% more for this Christmas season than the previous year. (RoiRevolution, 2021)
• 39% of shoppers claim that their 2021 holiday spendings will be higher than what they’ve spent  the previous years. (Inmar, 2021)
• A non-retail interesting stat is that the average holiday spend per household on services and experiences is predicted to be approximately $536 for the 2021 holiday season which means 15% more than 2020. (Deloitte, 2021)
• Approximately 85% of consumers will be doing their purchases online for this holiday season. (NPD, 2021)
• 74% of shoppers will do both online and in-store shopping in order to complete their holiday purchases. (NPD, 2021)
• The online sales are expected to rise by 10% in comparison with last year’s 2020 Christmas season. (USNews, 2021)
• Approximately 50% of consumers will do more online shopping in order for their gifts to be delivered directly to family and friends. (NPD, 2021)
• 73% of buyers are predicted to choose the standard delivery option for the holidays and 47% will choose same-day or next-day delivery, for items bought online. (Deloitte, 2021)
• A percentage of 33% of holiday shoppers want the “buy online, pick-up in-store” option and 21% choose the “curbside pickup”. (Deloitte, 2021)
• 27% of consumers are going to shop at local, independent stores for their holiday purchases. (Deloitte, 2021)
• For their Christmas supplies (food ingredients, Christmas decorations, etc.), 22% of consumers plan to perform their purchases both in digital and physical stores. (Inmar, 2021)
• Gifts that are less than $50 are preferred by 66% of Christmas shoppers. (Colibri, 2021) 
• 82% of consumers prefer Amazon to purchase Christmas gifts. (Colibri, 2021)
• 47% of holiday shoppers state that the free shipping option is going to determine from which stores they’ ll buy their Christmas gifts. (NPD, 2021)
• 66% of consumers state that they are willing to pay more for sustainable products for the 2021-2022 holiday season. (Inmar, 2021)
• Consumers are willing to go up to 11.5 miles away from their location in order to purchase a gift from a specific store. (Deloitte, 2021)
• 82% of consumers state that they will take a look  onto festive in-store displays to get information while on their holiday shopping. (LocalIQ, 2021)
• In the US, 60% of consumers prefer shopping at brick-and-mortar stores because there, they can interact with products before buying them. (Fortunly, 2021)
• 42% of people state that they prefer to do their purchases from local businesses than choosing national retail chains. (Deloitte, 2021)
• Social media is used by 56% of shoppers for product or service browsing during the holidays. (Deloitte, 2021) 

Other insightful marketing statistics resources for retailers

• 75 Halloween statistics and facts every retailer should consider
• The 50 most important Mother’s Day statistics for retailers
• Black Friday statistics: The 80 most important stats for retailers
• Retail Statistics: the 100 Most Insightful Stats You Shouldn’t Ignore
• Retail Customer Engagement Statistics: 55 Stats You Need to Know
• Marketing Automation Statistics for eCommerce
• Cyber Monday Statistics: 70 Stats Every Retail Executive Should Know
• 50 Father’s Day Statistics No Retailer Should Miss

• The 30 Best Christmas campaigns we’ve ever seen
• Building a 360-degree Christmas marketing strategy in retail
• 100+ Fairytale-ish Christmas Email Subject Lines for Holiday
• The Step By Step Holiday Email Marketing Checklist
• Everything You Need To Know About Holiday Email Marketing
• 24 Holiday Newsletter Ideas to Cheer Up the Season

Convert these Christmas Marketing Statistics into action (and revenue)

The trends are clear for this holiday shopping season. Omnichannel marketing has been and will be a big contributor to growing sales for retailers worldwide. Furthermore, the sales-generating power of the Christmas email campaign is dependent very much on whether if the subject and content of the email are relevant, targeted and personal to its recipients. But there are so much more a brand should optimize. Thus, each CMO should make sure that he or she will study and convert the key takeaways of these Christmas marketing statistics into clear optimization actions for the brand. Using a form of marketing automation triggers will also make customer touchpoints more timely. So, it’s execution time, do your best and craft the best Christmas marketing campaign for your brand.

Happy Christmas sales!