Last-Minute Shopping Definition and Current Market Size
Last-minute shopping refers to purchases made with less than 48 hours before a deadline, often holidays or events. In the United States, the National Retail Federation reported that 148 million consumers planned to shop during the last week before Christmas in 2023, with average planned spending around 373 dollars per person. The global last-minute delivery market was valued at 12.42 billion dollars in 2023 and is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 20.5 percent through 2030, according to Grand View Research last-mile delivery market report.
E-commerce platforms dominate last-minute transactions. Amazon reported that Prime members placed 167 million items in their carts during the final week of December 2023, a 9 percent increase year over year. Walmart's same-day delivery service processed 2.4 million orders in the final 72 hours before Christmas 2023, as disclosed in the company's fourth-quarter 2023 earnings release Walmart Q4 2023 results.
Peak Dates and Consumer Spending Patterns
Key Calendar Peaks for Urgent Purchases
December 23 and December 24 consistently rank as the two highest-volume shopping days in the U.S. retail calendar. In 2023, Adobe Analytics recorded 14.8 billion visits to U.S. retail websites on December 23, the highest single-day total of the holiday season. The average order value on that day reached 112 dollars, 18 percent above the monthly daily average.
Black Friday and Cyber Monday now extend into a full week of last-minute activity. Adobe Analytics reported that online spending from December 1 through December 24 totaled 204.6 billion dollars in 2023, a 7.6 percent increase from the same period in 2022. Mobile devices accounted for 46 percent of that traffic, with Apple products representing the most-searched gift category on December 24.
Delivery and Fulfillment Options for Urgent Orders
Same-Day and Next-Day Services
Amazon Prime Now and Amazon Flex delivered 92 percent of same-day orders within two hours in metropolitan areas during the 2023 holiday season. Target's Drive Up service fulfilled 34 million orders in the final 10 days of December 2023, with 87 percent of those orders picked up within three hours of placement Target Q4 2023 sales release.
Uber Direct and DoorDash expanded same-day retail delivery to 4,500 additional stores in 2023, covering grocery, pharmacy, and convenience categories. The average delivery time for these orders was 47 minutes, according to Uber's 2023 annual impact report Uber 2023 Impact Report. FedEx and UPS processed a combined 310 million packages in the final week of December 2023, with FedEx Ground Economy handling 28 percent of those shipments.
In-Store and Curbside Pickup Trends
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