Redseer said that following an unstable first three quarters of 2023, online sellers expect holiday sales to increase by at least 15% year-on-year (with a median sales forecast of 26%).
Although sales growth on e-commerce platforms has been modest recently (only 40% of sellers surveyed said sales increased by more than 10% this quarter compared to JFM Q23), sellers’ expectations for holiday sales growth are high across categories .
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Sellers across categories, including those with lower ASPs such as fashion, are bullish on this growth trajectory, which should provide respite in this challenging macro environment.
In addition, e-commerce platforms are customizing solutions to meet sellers’ optimism, and as a result, sellers’ perceptions of the support provided by e-retail platforms have increased, with 62% of sellers agreeing with the sentiment of the support provided by the platforms, compared to The proportion of sellers who expressed support on the eve of last year’s holiday season was 53%.
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Additionally, sellers are willing to spend more on marketing and advertising on online platforms during the festive season to drive sales growth. Overall, among sellers surveyed, they expect spending to increase 15% compared to last year’s holiday season and 50% compared to this year’s business-as-usual (BAU) period.
Even smaller sellers are showing an increasing willingness to spend money on advertising and are optimistic about overall sales growth; according to our survey, small sellers expect advertising spending to increase by 22% compared to the previous festival and compared with this year’s BAU An increase of 75% during the period.
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“The festive period is expected to give sellers, especially smaller sellers, a break from the challenging sales environment it has created, and sellers are optimistic about strong sales growth. In the long term, more and more sellers will Continue to benefit from the growth of e-commerce as our research shows that e-commerce has a strong positive impact on sellers’ revenue and profits,” said Mrigank Gutgutia, Partner at Redseer Strategy Consultants.
The survey was conducted among hundreds of sellers, mostly smaller sellers, ahead of the 2023 holiday sales.