16 Jan 2025
eCommerce unwrapped: Key Insights from Christmas and Boxing Day 2024
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By Ellie-Rose Davies, Content Executive at IMRG
Its January which means its time to unwrap Christmas trends!
In this blog we will explore what happened during the Christmas peak, helping retailers to identify shifts in trading patterns, customer behaviour, and performance post-Black Friday.
Read on to discover:
Source: IMRGs Online Retail Index, Digital Dashboard
The total online market in the first week of December was up +20.7% Year-on-Year (YoY), which may have been a result of Cyber Monday sales falling in this month, triggering early Christmas spending among consumers.
There were two other moments of growth in December, in the w/c 15th December (+10% YoY) and w/c 29th December (+9% YoY). The month overall was up +6.7% YoY, which marks the fourth consecutive month of growth for eCommerce! “ November was up +1.4% YoY.
From this data, we can infer, as expressed by Alfie Staples, Senior Global Insights Manager at Awin, This year, it looks like consumers really leaned into Cyber Weekend to get most of their holiday shopping done.
Interestingly, Awin saw conversion rates plummet by nearly half (-47%) after Cyber Weekend, compared to a smaller drop of -23% last year. This shows a big shift in spending habits, with fewer people intent to convert after the Cyber period.
One of the metrics that showed improvement in December 2024 was orders. Orders were up +7.8% YoY, whereas in November there was no change (0%).
However “ one of the biggest metrics was down: traffic. Despite brief growth in traffic in September, traffic was down in November and December according to IMRGs Online Retail Index data.
As noted by Georgina Farrow, Client Services Director at Summit, Like Black Friday, brands started sales activity earlier to capture sales, but traffic declines across the board meant lots of retailers were disappointed.
Georgina found that footfall fell over key trading periods such as Boxing Day. IMRG also reported declines in revenue and traffic in w/c 22nd December. Georgina continues, Our clients saw a similar story, with overall traffic down during the Christmas period despite improved CVR and AOV.
Find out more about December performance with a breakdown of product category trends via IMRGs Digital Dashboard and our Weekly Data Show.
- December weekly performance
- Customer demand trends
- Mastering Christmas gifting with early prep and AI
- Whats in-store (or rather, online) for Christmas 2025?
December weekly performance
The chart below shows December weekly revenue performance (data furthest to the right), and it reveals an interesting story.
Source: IMRGs Online Retail Index, Digital Dashboard
The total online market in the first week of December was up +20.7% Year-on-Year (YoY), which may have been a result of Cyber Monday sales falling in this month, triggering early Christmas spending among consumers.
There were two other moments of growth in December, in the w/c 15th December (+10% YoY) and w/c 29th December (+9% YoY). The month overall was up +6.7% YoY, which marks the fourth consecutive month of growth for eCommerce! “ November was up +1.4% YoY.
From this data, we can infer, as expressed by Alfie Staples, Senior Global Insights Manager at Awin, This year, it looks like consumers really leaned into Cyber Weekend to get most of their holiday shopping done.
Interestingly, Awin saw conversion rates plummet by nearly half (-47%) after Cyber Weekend, compared to a smaller drop of -23% last year. This shows a big shift in spending habits, with fewer people intent to convert after the Cyber period.
One of the metrics that showed improvement in December 2024 was orders. Orders were up +7.8% YoY, whereas in November there was no change (0%).
However “ one of the biggest metrics was down: traffic. Despite brief growth in traffic in September, traffic was down in November and December according to IMRGs Online Retail Index data.
As noted by Georgina Farrow, Client Services Director at Summit, Like Black Friday, brands started sales activity earlier to capture sales, but traffic declines across the board meant lots of retailers were disappointed.
Georgina found that footfall fell over key trading periods such as Boxing Day. IMRG also reported declines in revenue and traffic in w/c 22nd December. Georgina continues, Our clients saw a similar story, with overall traffic down during the Christmas period despite improved CVR and AOV.
Find out more about December performance with a breakdown of product category trends via IMRGs Digital Dashboard and our Weekly Data Show.
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