Online Channel Seen Paying 20% More for Holiday Goods as Costs Soar

Consumers will pay 20% more for their holiday gifts this shopping season as retailers face an additional $223 billion cost of goods, Salesforce forecast Friday. It advised retailers to “get ahead of margin and price pressure by communicating clearly and often” with customers. After record online sales in 2020, the global online shopping spend will rise 7% to $1.2 trillion this holiday season, said the report, with U.S. e-commerce customers expected to spend 10% more at $259 billion. Citing scarce inventory and global supply chains that are “still playing catch-up,” the customer relationship management service firm predicted consumers will be hungry for pre-sales. Black Friday will “give way to something like a pre-Cyber Week” with multiple Black Friday-like sales events forecast to bring in $31 billion in U.S. online spend, $141 billion globally, before Cyber Week even begins, it said. With Apple and Google phasing out cookies and third-party ad-tracking, brands will need first-party data to find and engage customers, said the report, recommending loyalty programs, social and influencer engagement and personalized email marketing.