Pamela Parker says, “Online holiday shopping activity slowed during the Christmas week but certainly didn’t stop entirely. Traffic was still clocking in at 1.6 times the holiday baseline while conversions dropped precipitously, to only .9 times the baseline number. Traffic was especially notable on the day after Christmas, when it spiked to 2 times the baseline number. Interestingly, conversions stayed fairly strong through Christmas Eve, according to this week’s Marketing Land Online Retail Sales Report. The report is based on data from HookLogic, a company which gathers data on online... [...]

Kevin Edwards says, “Black Friday finally took hold in the UK this year thanks largely to a huge marketing push by retailers. Econsultancy has previously rounded up a number of stats from the Black Friday/Cyber Monday weekend, and here’s some new data from Affiliate Window. The company’s affiliates recorded 1m sales in the UK over the four day pre-Christmas peak trading period. For more on this topic, read Econsultancy’s posts on Black Friday email marketing campaigns and the retailers that failed to adequately prepare for the traffic surge. 1. Black Friday was a daytime event,... [...]

Kristopher Arcand says, “Thanksgiving weekend has traditionally been highly lucrative for retailers, but this year saw another drop in spending specifically on Black Friday. In the meantime, online shopping continues to soar, and the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving weekend provided consumers with deep-discount sales. In short, the weekend itself is becoming less valuable to the average consumer. But how does consumer sentiment match up with this shift in behavior? How do perceptions of the 2014 holiday season differ from those of years past and consumers’ initial expectations? As part... [...]

Jay Calavas says, “To create long-term customer loyalty and profits, marketing professionals need to find a way to extend the yearend holidays’ sales momentum into the New Year. Marketers often spend months preparing for the holiday rush. They undertake ad campaigns, data collection initiatives, and mobile commerce site optimization. The light at the end of the tunnel is often December 26, when Black Friday is a distant memory, Cyber Monday is over, and Christmas has come and gone. However, there’s no reason to consider the season over just because the mistletoe has come down. As... [...]

Ayaz Nanji says, “Marketers hoping that the rapid shift toward mobile devices will help simplify their email approaches during the holiday season may be disappointed, according to a recent report from Return Path. Global consumers appear to be engaging in more multi-screen rather than mobile-only email interactions this year, the analysis found. Moreover, in November, less than half of the emails examined were opened on a mobile device, a decrease from last year when mobile open rates surpassed 50%. The report was based on data from 16 billion email opens that occurred between October 2013... [...]

Amanda Brief says, “Consumer-generated reviews are now the most influential form of social media. Bill Tancer, our resident data expert and author of Everyone’s a Critic – Winning Customers in a Review-Driven World sat down to discuss how businesses can leverage online reviews to their advantage, especially during the critical holiday season. To get started, embrace these five simple rules to leverage online reviews:  1.)  Showcase your passion When you are interacting with a customer, make sure that your passion for your business shines through to customers. If a customer recognizes... [...]

Briana Mulherin says, “Each week, we will provide you with real time insights and trends for the 2014 holiday season: how consumers are shopping, what they are searching for and how marketing campaigns can be optimized to maximize rewards for both consumers and brands. Sign up to receive the weekly #HolidayHotSheet in your inbox and stay tuned to the blog for highlights and additional holiday coverage. The biggest shopping days of the year – Black Friday and Cyber Monday – just passed us by and they did not disappoint! Cyber Monday was, as expected, the busiest online shopping day... [...]

Emma Yousif says, “Bill Tancer, general manager of global research for Experian Marketing Services, appeared on CNN Live Thanksgiving day, to answer the question, “Is Black Friday dying?” Contrary to popular belief, over the past few years, Thanksgiving has taken the place of Black Friday as the most popular day for shopping. Due to an increasing affinity toward online shopping as well as big box retailers opening their doors after dinner, many consumers are no longer using Thanksgiving Day to scan the internet for Black Friday deals, but are using it to shop. With this change and the... [...]

Amy Gesenhues says, “According to ComScore’s latest e-commerce report, Cyber Monday was the biggest online shopping day ever. ComScore says desktop online spending reached more than $2 billion on Monday, a 17 percent increase over last year’s Cyber Monday revenue. This year’s Cyber Monday wasn’t the only day to set a new e-commerce record over the holiday weekend. The Saturday following Black Friday was the first ever billion-dollar online shopping day reports comScore. Online desktop spending during the five days from Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday reached $6.6 billion this year,... [...]

David Moth says, “I solemnly swear that this is (probably) the last Black Friday/Cyber Monday post we’re going to write this year. We’ve potentially been guilty of overdoing it, but then when the whole ecommerce world goes mad for a sales event it’s hard to avoid getting swept up in the hoopla. So far we’ve covered pre-Black Friday predictions, Black Friday email marketing, Black Friday site crashes and several other Black Friday angles. And to round it all off, here are a load of Black Friday/Cyber Monday stats. And let that be the end of it… UK increases paid search spend You... [...]