Susannah Morris says, “The holiday shopping season is upon us! November and December sales for retailers are expected to top $616.9 billion. In the run up to Cyber Monday, let’s take a look at when, where, and how consumers are expected to shop. While there has been some backlash about stores opening on Thanksgiving, shoppers are still expected to spend $2.6 billion in-store, $766 million online, and $192 million on mobile on Thursday alone. Ecommerce provides the best of both worlds for “Black Thursday” because you can start your sales early for the benefit of the post-dinner shoppers,... [...]

Richard Procter says, “Consumers may trample over each other to get cheaper TVs and laptops this season, but Twitter’s advertising partners may have found the best Black Friday deal of all—the ability to tweet you promotions. Just in time for Black Friday and Cyber Monday, the microblogging network announced “Twitter Offers” on Tuesday. The service lets retailers tweet deals directly to customers, and users can easily grab one of these promotions within the tweet itself”. Twitter Lets Retailers Tweet You Deals—Just In Time For Black Friday ReadWrite  [...]

Amberly Dressler says, “It should come as no surprise that e-commerce retailers turn to Twitter and Facebook more in December than any other month, but how do they stand out from the crowd? Salesforce Marketing Cloud recently analyzed more than 3 million tweets and 2 million Facebook posts and found several key insights for the e-commerce and retail industry. For starters, as brands tweet more in the holiday months, consumers respond – nearly doubling the amount of replies to retail companies. The takeaway here is that brands should tweet often during the holidays. Salesforce’s... [...]

Allison Howen says, “The holidays may be a time for socializing, but last year not all e-commerce brands mingled where it counted – the top social media networks. According to a quick report from StatSocial (infographic below), a social analytics platform, the social chatter around last year’s Black Friday blew Cyber Monday out of the virutal water. Last year, there were 1.6 million tweets around Black Friday, compared to just 486,000 tweets about Cyber Monday 2013. Men tended to also tweet more about Black Friday than they did Cyber Monday last year”. Here’s to a More... [...]

Tom Caporaso says, “As 2014 winds down, the results of your retail holiday strategy will slowly come into focus. Hopefully, you’re having a merry old time, reaching record heights in sales, customers, revenue, website traffic—all the things that help to make a holiday marketing season bright. However, now is no time to rest on your laurels (or lick your wounds, as the case may be). As every retailer knows, there’s no off-season in retail marketing, especially in the online world, where if you’re not moving forward… you’re automatically falling behind. Even... [...]

Matthew Whitehead says, “Paid search is a key element of marketing campaigns during the festive shopping season. What should advertisers be focusing on to succeed this year? Here are six key tips to inform your search advertising campaigns this festive season: 1. Analyse past performance and forecast for the future Reference historical data when planning your campaigns, but don’t simply replicate the same tactics from the previous year. Where were your peaks in 2013 – and how does the changing calendar impact them? In 2014, there will only be 26 days between Black Friday and Christmas itself... [...]

Verónica Maria Jarski says, “Looking at the past can help you prepare for the future. So, here’s what Black Friday e-commerce looked like last year. This year won’t likely be too much different, so plan accordingly. The overall online sales for Thanksgiving and Black Friday in 2013 was $1.964 billion, according to the infographic by Nextopia. The top purchases were electronics (87% of shoppers), clothing (71%), toys (58%) and jewelry (30%). Mobile shopping grew to 39.7% of all online traffic, with mobile sales reaching 21.6% of total online sales, Nextopia states”. What... [...]

Allison Howen says, “A new study reveals that the number one reason consumers avoid online shopping is the lack of in-person assistance and proactive engagement from brands. The study, which was commissioned by Moxie Software and surveyed more than 2,500 consumers, found that 72 percent of respondents want brands to proactively engage with them online – especially when they are struggling on a website. Moreover, two out of three shoppers say they would do more of their shopping online if they were offered proactive engagement”. Is Live Chat the Key to Conversion for Holiday Shoppers? Website... [...]

Rex Santus says, “Happy holidays, mobile users. Google updated its search engine on Sunday to include fancier functions for smartphones and tablets that make your Christmas shopping easier. In time for Black Friday, your shopping on mobile devices will yield some extra information, like where the product is available and user reviews, at the top of Google‘s interface. You don’t have to use Google’s “shopping” tab, either. The details will pop up on a regular search. You’ll also have the option to use a 3D, 360-degree rotation tool to view some products. According... [...]

Christopher Ratcliff says, “Although this may just seem like a topical festive themed post, the lessons here are applicable all year round. I just thought why not use 2014’s biggest toys as a control group, then I can do some sneaky Christmas shopping at the same time. Transparency! It’s what we stand for here at Econsultancy. As our editor Graham Charlton points out in his article on essential PPC landing page success factors a common mistake in paid search strategy is to focus entirely on keyword targeting and CPC management whilst ignoring the vital role that landing page optimisation... [...]