Holiday online spending surges are real and incredibly lucrative – if you’re prepared. Merchants in the United Kingdom, the United States, and Canada usually get to rake in the most profit, since these three countries have the most year-end holiday spending spirit. 

And it’s no wonder! Americans will spend over a whopping $1 trillion on Christmas this year, with FedEx expecting to process ~2 million packages each holiday night. 

But what about other countries? Let’s dive into some fun facts about how holiday spending stacks up around the world and how you can get ready your business ready for the holiday season. 

How people celebrate around the world 

Each culture and region has its own festivities. While increased holiday spending is a global trend, people aren’t buying the same things. 

Here are what some decide to spend their money on (other than traveling to meet friends and family, of course). 

• India – Diwali, the 5-day Hindu Festival of Lights, accounts to up to 40% of Indian annual consumer spending as people buy new clothes, jewelry, and technology
• China – Chinese New Year is celebrated during wintertime with major expenses on food, traveling, and gifts of money (red envelopes🧧)

• The Philippines – In December, the Lantern Festival sees people lighting countless expensive lanterns (costing more than $11,000) each night

• Japan – The New Year celebration is a seasonal holiday lasting a week, with many new foods and gift ideas entering the market during this time. On December 24, many celebrate by eating a $21.50 eight-piece dinner of Kentucky Fried Chicken! 

• The UAE – Not all Christmas trees are created equal. The Abu Dhabi hotel houses a diamond, pearl, emerald, and sapphire tree worth more than $11 million
• Asia – The Double 12 e-commerce shopping event sees 322 million+ packages bought in just one day 

A hiccup on the road

Shopping isn’t always a smooth experience. It can be a real headache, which is why advertising is so important during the holidays and gift idea email lists are so popular – they’re a great way to inspire your target audience to shop.

Here’s what the numbers show:  

• 1 in 7 Europeans get gifts they don’t want
• A third of Brits aren’t even sure what they spend on presents (considering the stats for impulse shopping and other consumer behavior, we don’t blame them!)
• The average American shopper takes 15 hours to finish shopping for Christmas
• Two-fifths of Europeans feel like they are forced to shell out money for Christmas when they don’t want to 

We get it too – stress can run high during holidays, and with advertisements pushing products and the need to buy gifts in your face, shopping can be hard. Selling, ironically, can also be hard if you don’t polish up your customer experience for the holiday season.

How to benefit from holiday spending 

No matter where you live or operate your business, you can benefit from the increased sales that come with a holiday season. However, you do have to be ready for the occasion – ask yourself questions like, is your stock sufficient? Can your network handle an influx of site visitors? And very importantly: Do you have a seamless payment process? 

Businesses that sell online absolutely need seamless payments for holiday shopping. Customers hate being inconvenienced or bored, which is part of the reason why shopping cart abandonment is such a problem. 

Online shopping wears the crown for any holiday. So unless you live in Holland where Dutch consumers value shopping in brick and mortar stores three times more than other countries’ shoppers, it’s time to optimize your online shopping experience. 

The importance of seamless payments in holiday shopping 

The more payment options the merrier. Highly competitive stores tend to have sites that enable you to check out quickly. If you’ve bought from Amazon (who hasn’t), you know how that yellow checkout in one click button encourages you to buy more, and buy now. 

As a smaller or medium sized business, it’s just as important to make payments quick and easy for your customers. 

Have a large number of payment options

Credit cards aren’t the only way to get paid online anymore. Merchants should offer numerous payment options to their clients and customers, including digital wallets and other preferred payment methods. Checking out can be as easy as one click. Your clients will notice how simple the process is and be more likely to return once the holidays are over. 

In addition, the more options you have, the more comfortable potentially paying customers will be. Even if they don’t use the other options, it gives your business more legitimacy.  

Reduce people’s gift buying anxieties 

As mentioned earlier, not everyone enjoys spending money on gifts during the holiday season. An enjoyable, intuitive customer journey makes all the difference. Simplify the way your customer interacts with your store. 

A good way to do so is by turning your checkout process into one convenient, dynamic page, and giving your customers options such as auto-filling their payment info and saving it without having to register for an account. 

Optimize for mobile

Don’t worry, it’s never too late to upgrade your site for all devices. It’s always a good idea to invest in mobile optimization since, as global web traffic grows, more shoppers are choosing to go virtual with their carts. Mobile shopping is expected to continue snowballing. 

People love using their smartphones to research gift-buying options, compare prices, and make purchases wherever they are. It’s good for shoppers to visit your store and seamlessly add gifts to their virtual shopping cart, and then check out without any inconvenience. 

To bring it all together

With a smooth payment process, you can take full advantage of the increased spending during the holiday season. Contact us to see how our team of experts can help you upgrade your payment and deposit options so that you’re all ready for the holidays – any holiday!