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Posts Tagged ‘holiday retail’


Black Friday’s Mobile Madness

December 3rd, 2012 ::

By Rieva Lesonsky

Just how mobile are U.S. shoppers getting? Extremely, according to a PCMag roundup on the results of the Black Friday weekend. On Thanksgiving Day alone, PayPal statistics showed that mobile payments via its service were up by 173 percent compared to last year. Black Friday itself saw an even bigger increase in the number of mobile payments, up by 193 percent at PayPal. Overall, PayPal’s total number of mobile shoppers was up 164 percent compared to 2011.

Etailer eBay also noted a similar increase in the number of mobile payments, up by 133 percent compared to last year, and eBay subsidiary GSI Commerce saw mobile sales increase by 170 percent.

IBM statistics over the holiday shopping weekend show similar growth. This year, IBM reports that some 24 percent of consumers used a mobile device to visit a retailer’s site, up from 14.3 percent in 2011. Mobile sales surpassed 16 percent, up from 9.8 percent in 2011.

Overall, IBM says 58 percent of consumers used smartphones and 41 percent used tablets to search for bargains over the Black Friday weekend. As you might expect, the iPad powered most of actual mobile sales. iPads accounted for almost 10 percent of online purchases, and for a whopping 88.3 percent of tablet traffic. iPhones made up 8.7 percent of online sales, and Android devices 5.5 percent.

Clearly, prognosticators’ predictions that this would be the year of the mobile shopper are coming true. And while mobile purchasing is still far from universal among consumers, what’s clear is that mobile devices are becoming essential tools in the research, bargain-hunting and product-finding process. Even customers who are leery of paying for products on a mobile device are happy to whip out those devices to help them find deals, stores and all the products on their gift lists.

How is your company adapting to the mobile mind-set of today’s consumer?

Image by Flickr user IntelFreePress (Creative Commons)

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Online Shopping Will Surge This Holiday Season. Are You Ready?

November 12th, 2012 ::

By Rieva Lesonsky

Good news for ecommerce retailers: This holiday season, more Americans plan to shop online than will shop at brick-and-mortar stores. While 92 percent of Americans will do holiday shopping, according to SOASTA’s 2012 Holiday Readiness survey, 75 percent of those say they will shop online and 69 percent will shop in physical stores (of course, there’s some overlap here).

Of the 75 percent who say they plan to shop online, here’s how they’ll do it:

  • through their home computer (69 percent)
  • through their work computer (17 percent)
  • through an app or website through their tablet (44 percent)
  • through their smartphone (34 percent)

Shoppers have high expectations of ecommerce sites. Three-fourths of adults in the survey think stores should have specific “Cyber Monday” websites, able to handle tons of holiday shopping traffic, and 73 percent say that stores should have a dependable smartphone or tablet shopping app that makes mobile shopping reliable and easy.

The weak economy is one key reason Americans will be shopping more online this year, according to another recent survey from SOASTA. Some 51 percent of respondents in that poll said the economy is motivating them to shop online more often than in physical stores. Respondents aged 18 to 44 and women were most likely to say this.

Why are shoppers heading online? More than two-thirds (71 percent) of respondents believe they can find better and/or more deals online than they can in physical stores. With rising gas prices, 53 percent say they don’t want to spend money on gas to drive from store to store. Thirty-two percent of holiday shoppers say shopping online makes it easier for them to track spending and stay within their holiday budget; 20 percent want to use cash-back websites like Ebates to save even more money. One in five say they’re working such long hours, they have no time to visit physical stores. Finally, nearly one-third (31 percent) are worried that the bad economy will “bring out the crazy” in shoppers at physical stores, and want to avoid dealing with this.

Clearly, shoppers have plenty of reasons for heading online—good news for ecommerce merchants this holiday season. To prepare:

  • Make sure your site is ready to handle heavy traffic. Test now to avoid problems later.
  • Offer deals and discounts, since even online, shoppers are still cost-conscious.
  • Use marketing emails to highlight key reasons shoppers indicate they’re heading online, such as convenient 24/7 shopping.
  • If you haven’t already done so, consider developing a mobile app to drive even more traffic to your site.

Image by Flickr user Anastassia (Creative Commons)

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Move Over, Cyber Monday: Here Comes Thanksgiving

October 24th, 2012 ::

By Rieva Lesonsky

When it comes to holiday shopping, Black Friday and Cyber Monday typically grab all the headlines—but the real powerhouse this year just might be Thanksgiving Day, according to data reported by Internet Retailer.

A study by email services provider Responsys found that some 80 percent of major retailers plan to send email marketing messages on Thanksgiving Day this year, up from 76 percent last year, 60 percent in 2010 and 45 percent in 2009. That will make Thanksgiving Day the third busiest day for email, after Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

Last year, online shoppers spent $479 million on Thanksgiving Day, an increase of 18 percent over 2010, according to comScore stats reported in the article.

With Thanksgiving “[replacing] Black Friday as the unofficial kick-off the holiday shopping season,” as Responsys puts it, what kind of marketing messages should you send on the holiday?

Reponsys says there are two different tacks retailers typically take with Thanksgiving Day emails: one, promoting special Thanksgiving Day sales, the other, teasing Black Friday promotions or offering them a bit earlier than normal.

With some brick-and-mortar retailers opening stores on Thanksgiving last year, you don’t even have to be an ecommerce retailer to take advantage of the Thanksgiving Day trend.

Of course, there are some consumers who dislike the idea of shopping on a national holiday—but there’s even an appropriate marketing email for them: You can tell them that your store will be closed on Thanksgiving Day to honor tradition and family.

What’s behind the growth in Thanksgiving Day marketing and shopping? As you might expect, the rise of smartphones and tablets is a big factor. After the turkey is eaten and the family togetherness starts to chafe, consumers looking for digital distraction are likely to whip out their phones.

If you don’t like the idea of shopping or marketing on Thanksgiving Day, you’re really not going to like what Responsys says is the next up-and-coming trend: sending marketing emails on Christmas Day—another time when people are on the go, out of their homes and likely to get bored.

Image by Flickr user carolynwakefield (Creative Commons)

 

 

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How You Can Get a Jump on 2012 Holiday Sales

September 24th, 2012 ::

By Rieva Lesonsky

Good news on the retail front as we head into the 2012 holiday shopping season: Seventy-five percent of retailers in a Hay Group survey expect their sales to increase compared to 2011. The survey focused on large retailers, but their optimism is a good sign for small business owners, too. Now, how can you grab your share of those extra sales?

If you need to hire, do it now. More than a third of the survey respondents plan to hire more seasonal workers than last year. In addition, 43 percent say they plan to add more permanent workers and fewer seasonal ones. That means the competition could get stiff, so start your staff search early.

Test early promotions. Although the majority of big retailers (58 percent) won’t start holiday promotions till November, a sizeable contingent (42 percent) say they will start in October. By doing so, they’ll see which products sell well so they can reorder, and avoid getting stuck with excess inventory when it’s too late in the game to get rid of it.

Get your ecommerce engines ready. Last year’s holiday season had 10 days that each saw online sales of more than $1 billion. This year’s ecommerce outlook is even rosier, so make sure your website is in great working order, your fulfillment is smooth and all online systems are go.

Don’t discount so much. Just 18 percent of brick-and-mortar retailers in the survey say they feel pressure to match the prices at online-only retailers. That’s a significant drop from last year. Overall, 50 percent of respondents (both online and offline) say they will offer fewer discounts than they did in 2011. Consumers are still cost-conscious, but with big retailers dialing down the discounts, your small business will have more breathing room.

Make a mobile move. Big retailers are still pretty cautious about mobile shopping. While they are planning to spend three times as much on mobile initiatives as they did last year, many of them had concerns about lack of mobile knowledge, unclear business objectives for mobile, and insufficient staff or budgets. At the very least, your business should make sure your website is optimized for mobile use and that your retail location is listed on local search directories so customers can find you when they’re searching on mobile phones.

Image by Flickr user myeralan (Creative Commons)

 

 

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Posted in Customer Service, Marketing, sales process, Search Marketing, Small Business, small business, Social Media, social media, Technology, Web Design | No Comments »

Small Biz Resource Tip: Stamps.com Holiday Shipping Survival Guide

October 31st, 2011 ::

Stamps.com Holiday Shipping Survival Guide

With online sales numbers expected to rise for the 2011 holiday season, ecommerce retailers should be planning their shipping strategy now. Luckily, Stamps.com has released the Holiday Shipping Survival Guide for E-commerce Retailers. The free, downloadable guide offers shipping best practices and industry data that will help any ecommerce business streamline the shipping process and maximize profits throughout the holiday season. The Guide includes: 8 Tips for Holiday Shipping, 7 Popular Free Shipping Promotions, Improving Customer Communication with SCAN Forms, 11 Ways to Improve Your Packaging, Important E-commerce Dates, Tips and Stats.

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5 Quick Tips for Boosting Your Small Business’s Holiday Retail Sales

November 26th, 2010 ::

By Maria Valdez Haubrich

Black Friday, Cyber Monday—the Internet is abuzz with assessments of how profitable these crucial selling days will be for retailers this year, and what strategies work best to capture customers. It’s already Black Friday, but it’s not too late to profit from these 5 quick tips and tactics that can help your retail store sell more this holiday season.

  1. 1. Psych up your sales staff. Personalized service is one of the key differentiators a small retailer has to offer. When customers come to your store, make sure they’re greeted with a friendly smile and get helpful (but not pushy) service from your staff. Yes, this can be a tough time of year to be a retail employee—but your employees should be people who thrive on the challenge.
  2. Make it fun. One reason consumers still come out to bricks-and-mortar stores to shop (instead of going online) is for the fun and festive feeling. Make your store a happy place to be with music, décor, or small party favors for children. Host a visit from Santa or an open house with free hot apple cider and cookies.
  3. Be thoughtful. Little things mean a lot to tired and stressed-out holiday shoppers. Something as simple as placing a few comfy chairs around your store (where tired spouses can rest their feet) or making sure checkout clerks smile at customers in line and thank them for waiting can help.
  4. Clarify store policies. Returns are a key concern for holiday shoppers, who want to make sure their loved ones will be satisfied. Figure out a return policy that works for your business during this busy time (it may differ from your normal one). Then make sure the policy is politely and clearly conveyed to customers, whether by in-store signs, on your receipts or on flyers tucked into shopping bags. Customers are more likely to buy—and to buy more—if they feel confident they can return hassle-free.
  5. Give back. Get involved in community or charitable organizations. Give part of the proceeds from a certain item, or sales on a certain day, to a group that customers are likely to care about. Despite the economy, people are more likely to buy if they feel that their purchase is helping a cause.

The golden rule of holiday sales? It’s not all about discounts or deals. Think about how you like to be treated when you shop—and make sure your store treats customers the same way.

Image by Flickr user Kevin Dooley (Creative Commons)

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