Tips to catch the festive spirit – and not just for Christmas

[Sponsored Article]

Festivals and celebrations take place in all cultures and all over the globe for many reasons. Religion, changing seasons, agriculture, arts, food – all these and more have inspired cross-border retailing. 

Festive shopping is an important driver for sales, with consumers shopping for gifts and treats for themselves. In addition, the festive ambience, as well as deals and discounts usually available around holidays, also make impulse buying more likely. Christmas is probably the biggest festival of them all. But significant holiday sales remain well beyond that time. 

For instance, Black Friday sales in Brazil totalled US$680 million last year¹.  In India, Diwali sales increased to more than US$9.6 billion, growing 10.8% year-on-year². In Mexico, El Buen Fin stretched to 12 days in 2020 instead of its normal 4, with sales up 230% from the previous year³.  

The rise of shopping events is also becoming increasingly important for retailers. The Singles’ Day in China is among the most successful of these, with an online transaction value of US$115 billion in 2020⁴.  Global sales during Cyber Week also reached US$270 billion last year⁵. 

The digital acceleration generated by the recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic, along with the long-term global shift to online shopping, have further opened up possibilities for retailers to tap into festive sales opportunities beyond their home countries. 

As a leading global online payment platform, PayPal has the following tips to help retailers capture these opportunities across the world: