Unwrap growth: your final holiday season checklist

As we’re in the midst of the holiday season, many of us are wondering how various factors might impact our results. Let's dive into some key insights and strategies to help you navigate this busy time. But first, let’s address a concern we’ve been hearing from advertisers:

Fewer days between Black Friday and Christmas: Does it matter?

Fewer days between Cyber-5 and Christmas does not mean fewer clicks! Historical data indicates that consumers spend the same amount regardless of the timing between these key shopping days. We also checked macroeconomic data and saw that consumers historically spent the same amount regardless of the timing between Black Friday and Cyber Monday.¹

The time is now: There's still time to make an impact

Now that this concern has been resolved, let's focus on the opportunities during this holiday season. These are the trends that we’re seeing:

People intend to shop during a sales event

Good news! More people intend to shop during sales events this year compared to last year. In the US, 81% of respondents plan to shop during a sales event, up from 75% last year. The UK shows a similar trend with 68% of respondents planning to shop during a sales event, up from 66% last year. This means there's still time to prepare your advertising campaigns for the holiday season peak.^2 3

Tip: add Merchant promotions to make the most of your seasonal deals. Download our checklist or visit our holiday season resources for more tips.

Online shopping is critical

Most respondents prefer to shop online, with less than 10% shopping exclusively in-store. This presents a great opportunity to reach shoppers on the Microsoft Advertising Platform. Here’s how:⁴

• Stay efficiency-focused with multi-format ad types - Performance Max is proving to be a game-changer, optimizing towards your target across the funnel. Advertisers who have adopted Performance Max are seeing significant improvements to their return on ad spend, with results ranging from 6% to 30%.⁵
• Strengthen your overall portfolio - leverage image-based ads to build and nurture your audience pipeline and drive downstream demand. Use Broad Match and Dynamic Search Ads to cover evolving search behavior, especially as users engage in new ways with Copilot.

Volume remains high after Cyber 5

Cyber 5, the period between Thanksgiving (November 28) and Cyber Monday (December 2), is a peak shopping period. However, there's still plenty of volume to be gained in the days following. Clicks and conversions are projected to stay above the Q4 daily average across most days after Cyber 5. Similar trends can be seen in Europe:^6 7

• United Kingdom: 53% of holiday clicks and 54% of holiday conversions occur after Cyber 5, with cost per acquisitions roughly 3% lower than prior periods.
• Germany: 53% of holiday clicks and 55% of holiday conversions occur after Cyber 5, with cost per acquisitions roughly 11% lower.
• France: 54% of holiday clicks and 54% of holiday conversions occur after Cyber 5, with cost per click dropping by 4% but cost per acquisition increasing by 8%.
• The Netherlands: 51% of holiday clicks and 50% of holiday conversions occur after Cyber 5, with cost per click dropping by 1% but cost per acquisition increasing by 9%.
• Spain: 52% of holiday clicks and 51% of holiday conversions occur after Cyber 5, with cost per clicks roughly 12% lower but cost per acquisition 1% higher.
• Italy: 53% of holiday clicks and 53% of holiday conversions occur after Cyber 5, with cost per clicks roughly 5% lower but cost per acquisition 1% higher.

These trends indicate abundant opportunities to reach holiday shoppers after Cyber 5, both in North America and Europe. The best place to engage them is online.

Tip: Increase your reach by launching Shopping Audience campaigns, now with the added feature of product group creation. Download our checklist or visit the holiday season page for more tips.

What shoppers are looking for in Europe

With their shopping times clear, let’s explore what they’ll buy. This holiday season, European shoppers on our platform are more likely to purchase home and furniture products, DIY equipment, garden furniture, home exercise equipment, and robot vacuum cleaners. Personal items like electric toothbrushes, hair styling tools, and electric trimmers/shavers are also popular.^8 9

When we dig deeper and look at this with a country lens, we see the following trends:¹⁰

• United Kingdom: Beauty and Personal Care are most popular (expected 9% click increase), followed by Apparel (expected 8% click increase) and Home and Garden (expected 8% click increase).
• Germany: Computers and Consumer Electronics are most popular (expected 7% click increase), followed by Beauty and Personal Care (expected 5% click increase), and Home and Garden (expected 5% click increase).
• France: Beauty and Personal Care is most popular (expected 6% click increase), followed by Computers and Consumer Electronics (expected 5% click increase), and Home and Garden (expected 3% click increase).
• The Netherlands: Home and Garden is most popular (expected 28% click increase), followed by Sports and Fitness (expected 21% click increase) and Beauty and Personal Care (expected 16% click increase).
• Spain: Sports and Fitness is the most popular category with an expected 3% click increase.
• Italy: Beauty and Personal Care is most popular (expected 9% click increase), followed by Computers and Consumer Electronics (expected 3% click increase) and Sports and Fitness (expected 2% click increase).

Tip: Use high-quality images and best practices to maximize the value of Shopping campaigns. Download our checklist or visit the holiday season page for more tips.

Optimize your holiday season campaigns with our Holiday Playbook

With insights on when shoppers will buy and what they’ll purchase, you’re set to optimize your Microsoft Advertising campaigns. Not sure where to start? Download our Holiday Playbook, filled with tips and tricks to unwrap growth this holiday season.

New to Microsoft Advertising? Get started today and unwrap a valuable audience:

• Access premium shoppers - target an audience with exceptional purchasing power. People on the Microsoft Advertising Network are 49% more likely to be in the highest income segment compared to the average internet user.¹¹
• Reach over a billion users - connect with a vast, engaged audience. People on the Microsoft Advertising Network are 19% more likely to click on an ad compared to the average internet user.¹²
• Elevate your sales - benefit from an audience primed for holiday shopping. People on the Microsoft Advertising Network are 25% more likely to have shopped for a product in the last week compared to the average internet user.¹³
• Boost spending potential - Our users are 15% more likely to spend online.¹⁴

Contact one of our experts today!