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Adobe Digital Insights predicts 2016 online sales will be up 11% and shoppers will be out earlier than ever. 55% of US and UK retailers say Amazon will drive the majority of their holiday sales this year according to research by ChannelAdvisor and Morar Consulting. The National Retail Federation expects US consumers to spend an average of $935.58 with overall holiday sales to rise 3.6% and online sales up 7% to 10%.
What’s Walmart’s holiday sales strategy? Value, price rollbacks and features, along with Santa’s helpers at checkout. UPS expects to be busy as well, shipping more than 700 million packages during the holidays, up 16.7% from 2015. Bestblackfriday.com, says Friday’s Black Friday sales may drop by 10% in-store to$9.2 billion though online sales may reach $3 billion, up 13%....
Coupons are quickly growing as a significant component of beacon-enabled proximity marketing thanks to strong redemption rates, with brands and retailers forecast to deliver 1.6 billion coupons a year by 2020, according to a new report from Juniper Research.
The results point to how proximity marketing is gaining traction as retailers look to engage more deeply with consumers in and around their stores, prompting the volume of beacon-enabled coupons to grow quickly from the 11 million expected to be delivered in 2015. However, the research also underscores the potential danger of turning beacons into nothing more than another offer channel, which is likely to cause shoppers to lose interest.
“I would imagine that coupons will represent a key plank of any beacon-based proximity marketing strategy,” said Dr. Windsor Holden, head of forecasting and consultancy at Juniper Research as well as author of the report....
Executives at a number of US retailers may be surprised to see Bloomberg’s headline on Friday: “Retail Sales Rise Most in a Year, Marking U.S. Consumer Comeback.”
This despite a number of America’s top retail chains reporting dire earnings reports and lowering their outlooks this week. Macy’s shares fell to a four-year low this week, with one analyst saying its woes could doom a third of US shopping malls. Kohl’s reported an 87% drop in net income for its most recent quarter. Nordstrom is cost-cutting following its drop. Gap Inc. may close more Old Navy and Banana Republic stores as its portfolio struggles. JCPenney shares sunk 10% on Friday morning after its disappointing quarterly report.
Kohl’s quantified its distress with the report of a sales drop of 3.7 percent and a profits plunge of more than half; sales at stores open at least a year were down by 3.9 percent. This followed an earlier report by Macy’s that first-quarter sales had fallen off by a huge 7.4 percent, while profit plunged by 40 percent; same-store sales were down by 5.6 percent, Macy’s fifth consecutive quarterly decline. Earlier, Gap said its comparable-store sales for the quarter would be down by 5 percent....
Retailers worldwide are preparing for the most profitable time of the year, striving to make this holiday season the most lucrative yet. As always, a number of new trends are impacting the ways customers approach holiday shopping, and retailers must be on top of these developments to gain an edge.
With a better understanding of these behaviors, brands will be able to capitalize on the huge opportunities that lie ahead in the next 6 weeks. To help brands optimize their holiday campaigns and maximize returns, here's a look at 11 retail stats that every marketer needs to know....
More than 61% Shop In-Store
It is indeed good news for the traditional retailers against the 31% of people who turn to the internet. Until eCommerce finds a less expensive solution for same day delivery, traditional commerce continues to win on this point. In-store shopping has the ability to offer products to the customers immediately.
Not only this, the biggest benefit for brands operating brick-and-mortar stores is the way in which consumers spend their money while shopping. They need to understand that approximately 41% of shoppers spend more than they had planned to while shopping in stores. The product displays and the decorative store-fronts can strongly influence shoppers to make an impulse purchase....
Most consumers shop across multiple channels – in fact, a whopping 72% want to connect and engage with brands through digital channels. Most businesses have made or are beginning to make the transition to better engage today’s digital consumers.
Offline must be integrated with online methods, consumer data must be collected across all touch points, and marketers understand that personalized digital experiences will drive success.
Ever wonder just how much of an impact do digital marketing strategies really make? Or are you considering switching up some of your marketing spend? Take a look at these 5 compelling reasons why you should seriously think about ramping up your digital presence....
Webloyalty research into online consumers has revealed that UK retailers could be missing out on as much as £66m in additional revenue through failing to personalise the experience they offer online shoppers. Over half of UK consumers said that they would make more of an effort to use a retailer if it offered a good personalised experience.
The top fifty retailers in the UK have an average turnover of £3.2bn*. For an average-sized retailer generating a turnover of £850m (such as Wickes or Mothercare), this could deliver a 7.8% uplift in sales**.
In monetary terms, this translates to an annual uplift of £66 million, not only stimulating online consumers to spend, but also helping to improve loyalty. For larger companies, this number would naturally increase even further....
Macy’s has announced they will shut down 14 stores as part of a restructuring effort, citing a shift in how consumers shop. The retail giant notes that this is part of a broader plan to meet consumers where they are: online.
The closed stores will mean a reduction of 1,343 jobs and should be completed within the next few months. The news has the average layperson assuming the worst of the brand, but Macy’s is no JCPenney, no, this is a simple effort that is common for large brands. These closures represent only a fraction of the brand’s 790 stores across America....
Before deciding to read this topic, ask yourself first – What are the things you wished was there in your last visit to a shopping site?
Should there have been more scope for interaction? Should there have been a price comparison facility? Did the web design communicate what it promised to sell? Would you purchase more if they offer seasonal discounts / free delivery next time?
Being 'user friendly', is the focal point of all e commerce sites. A design that is user focused, generates more conversions. So, if you were given the opportunity to make some improvements to the last visited shopping website, what would you have added or changed?
This post will bring to you a set of five best shopping site names, which try to maintain the key marketing principles, together with a beautiful web design....
The holidays are almost upon us, and recent surveys confirm what many business owners have suspected: social commerce, and the use of mobile channels, is increasing and will have a huge impact on 2014 holiday shopping behaviors. The shift toward social shopping highlights trends that impact both business-to-consumer and business-to-business (B2B) purchasing.
As reported by MarketingLand, mobile and social channels will play a significant role in holiday shopping this year. In an online survey of 1,000 smartphone owners, sponsored by MarketLive.com, one in three shoppers stated they plan to make more than 50 percent of purchases via mobile devices. Thirty percent of respondents reported having made a purchase as a direct result of “engagement with a social networking site” within the past year. This is up from 18 percent the previous year.
And, as consumers become increasingly web and mobile-savvy, and vocal in their online reviews of their likes and dislikes, we will begin to see what some are describing as the “consumerization” of business-to-business purchasing behavior. So, while not all consumer shopping activities translate to the B2B purchasing model, many do....
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Malls are lumbering, claustrophobic dinosaurs, while anchor stores like Macy's and Kohl's are shuttering hundreds of locations. Fresh Direct and Peapod make it easier and quicker to stock a cupboard than wading through the jam-packed neighborhood Kroger, and Amazon and eBay and Overstock sell, well, everything.
Who needs retail anymore?
In fact, 71 percent of U.S. consumers say they still prefer to buy from physical stores even if the same products are available online, according to a recent TimeTrade survey, which also found that 85 percent like to shop in stores because they say they want to "touch and feel" items before buying them.
Online shopping accounts for only about 9 percent of total consumer retail spending, according to the most recent quarterly figures from the U.S. Census Bureau. But make no mistake—everyone from retail behemoths to specialty boutiques is feeling the pressure to adapt more seamlessly to the digital world, to bring in that all-important foot traffic and to deliver an experience that consumers can get nowhere else....
Brand loyalty is important to retailers, but one tool can lure loyal shoppers away to other establishments.
Coupons are still one of the most effective tools to attract customers away from brands and retailers to which they are loyal, according to a report from Valassis.
Furthermore, coupons are just as influential among average consumers as they are among brand loyalists:
- 84% of all consumers (not including brand loyalists) would likely switch stores in order to capitalize on weekly specials, compared to 82% of brand loyalists.
- Coupons would lead 82% of all consumers to purchase a product from a brand they would not otherwise, compared to 78% of brand loyalists
- 85% of all consumers would purchase a new product because of a coupon, compared to 84% of brand loyalists....
For many Americans, smartphones are as much a necessity in their daily lives as the air they breathe and the food they eat. These devices are constant companions, helping us take care of just about everything we need to do each day—watching our favorite shows and movies, keeping up with our friends, learning new languages and managing our finances.
And spending money is no exception!
In addition to growing as a new purchase channel, mobile commerce offers a plethora of opportunities for marketers and advertisers looking to reach their desired consumers. According to Nielsen’s fourth-quarter 2015 Mobile Wallet Report, 37% of respondents said their purchases start with mobile shopping more than one-quarter to half of the time. However, the competition is fierce, and in order to maximize these opportunities, marketers must know the best ways to position their products and communicate with appropriate audiences.
Consumers handle a lot of their shopping activities on their mobile devices, and everyone knows that savvy consumers do their due diligence before handing over their cash. In fact, 72% of smartphone shoppers research an item before purchasing it, 70% check the price of an item and 60% use a store locator to find a store where they can buy their desired product of choice....
The 3rd annual digital experience study by analysts at Deloitte revealed a continuing trend, showing how mobile connectivity influences retail purchasing decisions. The study examined over 3,000 U.S. consumers to understand how their digital interactions (eCommerce, social, review sites, etc) are influencing in-store U.S. retail purchases. To nobody’s surprise, this year’s data clearly shows that digital influence continues to accelerate and shift the ground under the feet of retailers large and small alike.
The Deloitte study also pointed out that retailers are “dramatically underestimating the influence of digital, and are caught in a divide where they are making digital investments.” Buyers’ digital experience is becoming increasingly important.
Rather than view eCommerce and physical retail separately, retailers must understand how digital experience influences multiple channels.
As the rapid convergence of eCommerce and “brick-and-mortar business” continues, there are some practical ways you can create a more desirable digital experience for your customer.
The good news is, many changes aren’t costly at all, it’s just a matter of making a slight shift in your business approach....
Nowadays, omni-channel consumers are comparing products and prices online before ever entering a bricks-and-mortar store and when they do, they have a device with them to compare and research on the fly.
So, the question is: how can online retailers cash in on über-connected consumers and get them to spend money in their online store as opposed to someone else’s?The answer: gamify....
Back in the early 2000s, I was the editor of Progressive Grocer magazine, which did a “Super 50” list of top supermarket chains by revenue. In the first few versions of the list, however, the true top dog was missing. Walmart had been building supercenters and Neighborhood Market grocery stores at an aggressive pace, but it didn't report its transactional data to IRI.
We finally worked with several data companies and did square footage analyses to come up with a number to attach to Walmart's grocery sales and confer top honors upon it.
It was a relief to us on the editorial staff, because everyone knew Walmart ruled the roost. It appeared there was nothing Sam Walton's troops could not conquer. Then came digital....
It’s a question that’s been at the forefront of marketers’ minds for years: How can I engage with customers uniquely, based on both their interests and their value to my brand? And then digging deeper: How can I manage that conversation not just digitally, but offline, too, through any channel? These are questions that have been asked, pondered, discussed and, ultimately, never answered. That is, until now. The promise of omnichannel marketing enlightenment gets realized this year....
Wal-Mart Stores said Tuesday that online sales broke company records, with more than 1.5 billion pages viewed on Walmart.com between Thanksgiving Day and Cyber Monday. The retailer said mobile sales accounted for about 70 percent of traffic to Walmart.com during the period.
Wal-Mart also said same-day pickups set records too, with orders up 70 percent from the same period last year.
But online sales across the board for retailers grew a smaller-than-expected 8 percent on Cyber Monday after web promotions before and during the Thanksgiving weekend robbed business from what has traditionally been the busiest day of the year for Internet shopping.
As of 6 p.m. EST Monday, data from IBM Digital Analytics Benchmark showed Cyber Monday sales grew sharply slower than comScore data over the weekend which showed a 32 percent rise in online orders on Thanksgiving and 26 percent on Black Friday.
Cyber Monday sales were projected to rise between 13-15 percent. The results highlight the waning importance of traditional shopping days like Cyber Monday and Black Friday, which until a few years ago kicked off the holiday shopping season....
comScore's experts predict desktop ecommerce to reach at least $53 billion while mobile is expected to bring in nearly $8 billion. Overall that indicates a 16% increase in spending over the 2013 holidays. Since Q4 of 2010, ecommerce growth has increased at least 10% Quarter over Quarter.
"The 2014 online holiday shopping season is shaping up to be a bright one with more than $61 billion in spending expected, representing a year-over-year growth rate of 16 percent across desktop, smartphones and tablets," said Gian Fulgoni, Executive Chairman Emeritus of comScore....
Mobile apps are expected to drive holiday sales as increasing numbers of shoppers expect to make purchases on a mobile app.
In fact, 54 percent of app users plan to do at least half of their holiday shopping on a mobile app, via smartphone or tablet, according to new data from Artisan Research.
In a survey of 500 consumers, 94 percent of respondents strongly agreed or agreed that they are purchasing and browsing products on apps more than ever before, and 91 percent intend to buy items from a mobile device this holiday season....
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Here's an interesting roundup of holiday e-commerce and retail predictions.