Post-Holiday Rebound

Though some may recoup from the holiday season with food-coma enduced naps, many overcome the post-holiday blues with a few purchases. In fact, 62% of shoppers plan to shop after the holidays. And, even more surprising, 10% won’t even begin purchasing until after the holidays have ended. [1]

In looking at indexed search volume using Google Insights for Search, we find that traffic in the shopping category actually peaked on December 26th during the 2008 holiday season. And, not surprisingly, much of the post-holiday season is about seeking out sales. In fact, as we see below, searches for "sales" peak on December 26th. Similarly, searches in the product review category, as well as, searches for “returns” increase sharply post-Christmas.

Most important to note is that shoppers are turning to the web not only to research post-holiday sales, product information, and where to return/exchange their gifts, but also to buy. According to the Google/Compete Daily Search Barometer, conversion rates to top retail sites rebounded immediately following the holidays in 2008 and increased to levels that were on par with November conversion rate levels.

So though the post-holiday doldrums may get us down, there's nothing like a little retail therapy to recoup and revive. Consumers will be heading online this post-holiday season to do just that.

Source: [1] Google/OTX Consumer Intentions for Holiday 2009, September 2009. n= 2002. [2] Google Insights for Search, 2009. [3] Google/Compete Daily Search Barometer, 11/09. Analysis based on top 450 retail sites.

Posted by Eric Lopez, the Google Retail Team