With the year’s peak shopping season upon us, retailers are preparing to make this the most wonderful time of year for shoppers. This year’s key storylines will be focused on three things: growth, breadth and of course mobile. Drawn from the shopping activity of more than 500 million shoppers, and looking at more than three billion visits over the past three years, we modeled the upcoming peak season.

More traffic = strong growth 

This shopping season, we expect to see year-over-year (YoY) revenue growth reach its highest level of the calendar year, at 22%. What will drive that growth? Traffic. With 23% more shopping visits across digital, this will be the biggest peak season ever. Also, shoppers will return slightly more this season too, with 18% of orders coming from buyers making multiple purchases during the peak season, up from 17% last year.These are both signs of a healthy market, with more room to grow. The slightly longer period – 2 more shopping days between American Thanksgiving and Christmas Day – will help to bolster an already strong outlook.

The catalog swells

Shoppers will go wide this season, buying 13% more products across the catalog, as digital once again provides an endless aisle of products to choose from. This is a blessing and a challenge for retailers; wider catalogs and unique product offerings help capture shopper attention and differentiate brands, but of course come with the risk and weight of carrying a wider assortment.

Massive mobile days

And of course, look for mobile to be the device of choice this season. Globally, we expect to see some massive mobile days; traffic on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day will be mostly mobile, as 63% of all visits will come from phones. Overall, 55% of traffic and 33% of orders placed during the season will come from phones. Shoppers will be a bit more balanced in their shopping on the biggest shopping days – Cyber Monday and Black Friday, with traffic more equal between phones and computers.

This season is sure to have its share of surprises, so stay tuned for our Cyber Week flash reports later this month. For an indication of what’s to come, check out last year’s day-by-day analysis of the peak shopping season.