ADVICE Year-End Shopping Season Online or In-Store? By Ricardo Gaitán, Brand Analyst he Christmas specialized stores. and New Year Physical stores will continue to be essential for personalized seasons are advice, an action that allows buyers to touch, see and try times when products before taking them away. Digital shopping o昀昀ers Hispanics, complementary services such as "click and collect", where Tresiding in customers can shop online at any time and pick up in-store, the United States and which allows them to interact with the seller. other parts of the 吀栀is is especially attractive to younger generations. Many world, decide to platforms are using arti昀椀cial intelligence (AI) to personalize strengthen their the online shopping experience. bonds with loved 吀栀rough devices such as Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa, ones and friends which allow voice purchases, they allow users to "try" products through a physical detail. such as clothing, appliances or furniture before purchasing Many decide to advance their them, improving consumer con昀椀dence. In fact, mobile devices Christmas shopping during the have been key in the growth of online shopping. Black Friday or Cyber Monday celebrations. Most e-commerce shopping traffic will come from Black Friday, focused on physical sales, takes place the day smartphones, prompting companies to optimize their after the fourth 吀栀ursday of November following 吀栀anksgiving. websites and apps for these platforms. Cyber Monday takes place the following Monday after the holiday and is characterized as the day dedicated to online Digital payments, including electronic wallets such as shopping. cryptocurrencies, Apple Pay and Google Pay, have become 吀栀ese celebrations identi昀椀ed by discounts in both physical established, o昀昀ering more secure and convenient transactions. and online stores have expanded significantly due to Cybersecurity has also improved to protect online purchases, globalization. with the use of technologies such as biometric authentication. In the 1950s, Black Friday started Although physical stores remain relevant, many have commercial activities and Cyber Monday adopted an omnichannel approach by integrating physical in 2005. Both celebrations open the most and online experiences. productive season of the year for sales, at For example, some businesses allow you to buy online a time when everyone wants to buy. While and pick up in-store, while others o昀昀er interactive digital "face-to-face" service establishments o昀昀er the possibility of experiences within physical stores. receiving direct advice from expert personnel, something Retailers can be con昀椀dent that the year-end shopping season that shoppers value, online sales are expected to continue in 2024 will be the most active, as e-commerce has maintained representing a signi昀椀cant portion of total sales worldwide sustained growth, especially after the pandemic. through platforms such as Amazon, Alibaba and powerful 7878 NNOOVVEEMMBBEERR/ D/ DECECEEMMBBEER 2R 200224 4 AABBAASSTOTO..CCOOMM