‘Tis the season of lists so I thought that we might make a list of important learning from this Holiday Season of Marketing so that we could use it all next year. So here is my list. Feel free to add your learnings to the list.
1. Pinterest is the thing of Sugar Plums and Dreams. This female-focused audience is now 70 million strong and retailers need a Pinterest strategy. Holidays, DIY and Recipes are some of the top searches on Pinterest. And 47.7 percent of shoppers say that Pinterest content has inspired holiday gift purchases. Here’s an amazing fact - Amazon has been among the most popular holiday season e-retailers for passed-along Pinterest content, drawing more than 16,300 pins/shares a week since Thanksgiving, per Searchmetrics’ research. Walmart is second and Apple is third.
2. Gift guides are an important sales tool. Some of the most-opened emails during the holiday season are gift guides. Use your imagination for special groups, categories and price ranges. Also popular are gift guides for gifts under a certain price like $50 or $100. Pinterest would be a great place to create gift guides.
3. It’s online! Black Friday gave way to early Thanksgiving openings and Cyber Monday. These shopping holidays saw some new trends this year. Seventeen (17%) of consumers are expecting to increase their online purchases this year, including 2o% among more affluent households. For the first time, more consumers will shop online (47%) than at discount/value department stores (44%). While consumers did more of their pre-Thanksgiving shopping at online retailers than at mass merchants or department stores, they will do more last-minute shopping at mass merchants and department stores (presumably because they won’t have time to wait for the shipping). (Integer Group, M/A/R/C Research.) Oh, and there’s a new term to learn – Green Monday (the Monday with at least 10 days until Christmas).
4. Price checking abounds and Amazon is a clear leader in online shopping. Some 87% of consumers agree that they will always check Amazon before making most online purchases (MarketLive/e-tailing group.) Retailers’ sales and promotions are the most likely factor to influence shoppers’ holiday spending (44%), ahead of household expenses (27%) and existing debt obligations (14%). (Discover).
5. Free shipping is now the standard; 7 in 10 shoppers expect free shipping online, and 47% expect free returns. (Deloitte.)
Bonus Trend: One third of holiday shoppers will be buying gifts for themselves this year, while spending the rest of the budget on friends and family. However, holiday shoppers value generosity and social consciousness from their favorite brands.
There are only ten days left until Christmas. Make the time count – smile more, laugh more, treasure the time and be generous of spirit during these last days before Christmas.
