Brett Williams says, “There are few hallmarks of the holiday shopping season more frustrating than those infamous Black Friday check-out lines. It’s bad enough to have struggled through the crowds before sunrise in a battle for doorbuster specials. Waiting in line among the mass of other shoppers after the adrenaline has worn off and counting on an overtaxed seasonal employee manning the register to make the process run smoothly is even worse. There may be one other experience that can measure up on the frustration-scale: an online shopping system delay. The physical commitment and... [...]

Ginny Marvin says, “Bing has reprised its Black Friday flyer ads this year, though this time with a different take. Last year’s flyer ads displayed on searches for some retailers and linked to flyers hosted by Flipp. In the 2016 version, the flyer ads appear in a carousel on desktop searches for general Black Friday-related terms. The individual ads featured in the carousel each link to the Black Friday landing page on the respective retailers’ websites. Here is an example of a flyer ad that includes spots for Sam’s Club, Target, Kohl’s, Best Buy and Brooks Running in the initial... [...]

Andrew Lipsman says, “We are now a few weeks into the holiday shopping season, and I’m looking forward to following the trends during what will be my twelfth season covering this sector. Having been through it many times before, I’ve seen dozens of fascinating storylines emerge as consumers have shifted their online shopping habits and retailers have changed their marketing strategies to adapt to a digitally-driven environment. Despite the many new and interesting storylines that emerge each season, I’ve found there is often too much of a focus on holiday storylines that are outdated,... [...]

Shopify team says, “The holiday season is every marketer’s dream and nightmare. It’s this time of year when customers are primed for purchasing. Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Christmas, Boxing Day, New Years—the biggest sales days are packed into a two-month period. It’s also when marketers start increasing advertising budgets. With so many big shopping days, mant company will increase spending, especially with Facebook ads. So how can small and medium sized businesses compete against these large advertisers? This post will show you how. In this guide, you’ll learn: How ad costs... [...]

Matt Lindner says, “Web sales on Thanksgiving will grow the fastest, but Cyber Monday still wins. With the Thanksgiving shopping weekend dawning, analysts are split on just how lucrative it’s going to be. Rod Sides, head of the retail practice at Deloitte LLP, tells Internet Retailer that  online sales for the five days between Thanksgiving and Cyber  Monday will increase 15-17% year over year, with half of shoppers’ holiday shopping budgets during the period allocated to e-commerce—a first. That’s thanks in part to retailers priming shoppers for deals, he says. “What’s so... [...]

Vahe Habeshian says, “The holiday season is here, and so is the busiest time of year for retailers, including online merchants, and that means maximizing e-commerce conversions and sales during the yearend holidays. This week, the first major shopping event, Black Friday (Nov. 25), followed by Cyber Monday (Nov. 28) together mark “the beginning of the period with heightened promotional offer,” writes Ainsley Smith for Nextopia, a provider of site search, navigation, and merchandising solutions for Internet retailers. “Retailers should be mindful of the other upcoming shopping... [...]

Carol Roth says, “Whether buying gifts for your clients, employees or even your family, it’s a great time of year to consider supporting entrepreneurs. American Express even started a movement around “shopping small”, called Small Business Saturday, which is November 26th this year. If you aren’t sure about what to get yet, here are some suggestions. Think of them as “Carol’s Favorite Things” (a la Oprah’s favorite’s list). Full disclosure: two of these companies (marked with this*) have sent me items in the past (the others I stumbled upon) but none paid to be included... [...]

Jignesh Shah says, “Your customers want to feel appreciated. What better time to say “thank you” than the holiday season? And what a great opportunity to build a holiday marketing campaign around the relationships you want to nurture, build, and strengthen. So, whom should you target? Don’t make the mistake of spamming your contacts database with generic holiday email greetings. The emails will be ignored, your time will have been wasted, and your brand will lose credibility. Make your efforts count by sending personalized, thoughtful messages and gifts to your customers.... [...]

Annie Pilon says, “If you’re hosting or attending a Thanksgiving dinner this year, there’s a good chance you’ve used Google to help with the planning. And for businesses, all of those searches can lead to some really helpful insights. The search engine giant just released a search trends report that shows some of the most popular search terms around Thanksgiving. Not surprisingly, the most popular searches revolve around how to cook turkey. And people also searched for other alternative recipes, like prime rib, green bean casserole and pumpkin pie. But there are also other trends that... [...]

Ayaz Nanji says, “Retail sales are expected to increase year over year this holiday season, according to recent research from the National Retail Federation (NRF). The report was based on retailer data collected by NRF as well as data from a survey conducted in October 2016 of consumers in the United States. Total retail sales for November and December are expected to increase 3.6% year over year in 2016. That forecast is above the average of 3.4% over the seven years since the US economic recovery began in 2009“. Holiday Shopping Season 2016: Spend Forecast and Gift Trends MarketingProfs  [...]