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“What’s the best part of Christmas shopping? When you know it’s a wrap.”

-Melanie White, author

For many consumers, holiday shopping won’t “wrap” until it’s almost Christmas. Is your store ready for the 76% of holiday shoppers who plan to wait until the last minute to shop?

To help you prepare for the onslaught of shopping, we examine consumer shopping/spending trends in December. We also include tips on how to prepare for last-minute holiday shoppers in 3 key areas.

Last-Minute Shopping

December

With the reason for the season of holiday shopping rapidly approaching, consumers get in gear to get their shopping done.

• Only 1 in 10 shoppers have finished all their holiday shopping by early December.

• Almost 1/3 of holiday shoppers, or 32%, will start buying holiday gifts in December while just 12% of shoppers wait until December to start researching holiday gifts.

• 51% of shoppers wait until the final days leading up to Christmas to complete their shopping.

Green Monday

Ring in those last-minute purchases because sales on the second Monday in December add up to a significant percentage of overall holiday sales.

• $75 billion sales revenue by Green Monday 2016, which is about 82% of all 2016 holiday sales.

• Holiday sales in the last 2 weeks of December increased 19% from 2015 to 2016.

• Green Monday online sales increased 27% in the last 5 years.

Super Saturday

Also called Panic Saturday, the last Saturday before Christmas is a major shopping day.

• Super Saturday ranked as the 4^th busiest shopping day in the 2016 holiday season, with Black Friday, the day after Christmas and Christmas Eve as the top 3.

• 57% of 2016 Super Saturday consumers shopped with their mobile. 44% used a desktop computer to purchase holiday gifts on Super Saturday.

• 66% of Americans, or 155.7 million, planned to finish their holiday shopping on Super Saturday in 2016.

Planning for Last-Minute Shoppers

Why do shoppers wait until the last minute to finish holiday shopping? Common reasons include feeling overwhelmed, waiting to find the perfect gift, poor planning and taking time to consider what constitutes the perfect gift, according to Consumer Psychologist Kit Yarrow.

Keep these reasons in mind as you prepare for last-minute shoppers in these 3 key areas: promotions, Social Media and your online presence (website and app).

Promotion Power

Prepare an arsenal of promotions to strategically deploy in early December, around Green Monday and for Super Saturday.

Consider playing on emotions other than urgency. Messaging that evokes pride, joy, trust, anticipation and grabs for attention tends to resonate with audiences better than “time’s running out.” Holiday shoppers know that the big day is around the corner.

The top 5 reasons holiday shoppers made a purchase in 2016:

• 64% Free shipping offer

• 50% Limited-time sale

• 33% Able to buy online & pick up in-store

• 25% Free gift with purchase

• 24% Helpful customer service

Social Spirit

Update your Social Media accounts to reflect the season. Those updates include using holiday imagery in your hero and profile pictures and revising company descriptions. If you create holiday gift idea lists, put clickable links to those in your description. Mention ongoing holiday offerings in your company description, too.

Inspire holiday shoppers with visuals of gift ideas (photos and videos). Notify customers of extended holiday hours and offer tips on the best time of day to visit the store on  especially busy days like Super Saturday and Christmas Eve.

Keep in mind Social Media tends to be the best channel to drive product awareness.

• More than 2 in 3 customers say Social Media influences their shopping behavior.

• 72% of Millennials research companies online before visiting a store.

• 43% of consumers ages 16-24 & 38% consumers ages 25-34 use Social Media to research a product.

Impeccable Internetting

Is everything in good working order on both your responsive website and mobile app? Prominently place your last-minute holiday gift suggestions on both your website and app. Send Push notifications with gift suggestions or sales on the busiest shopping days.

• 4 in 10 shoppers abandon a website that takes over 3 seconds to load.

• 4 of the top 5 reasons customers abandon an online shopping cart have to with the online buying process while only 1 has to do with price.

• The average shopper does 47% of his/her holiday shopping online.