December 17, 2012
Food chains give their customers holiday promotions they can really sink their teeth into.
March 01, 2012
Retailers have now begun to embrace gift cards as both a product and a marketing vehicle, not just a way to grab stray dollars from indecisive shoppers.
February 01, 2012
In advance of Marcus Thomas's planned 2012 move to a larger office space, the Cleveland-based marketing and PR firm got rid of 10-years worth of accumulated clutter in a creative way that also benefited the Akron Children's Hospital Fund.
February 01, 2012
What's in our mailbox this month: Targeted consumer emails from Panera's, Rewards "R" Us, Shari's Berries and Go Daddy. Who had a bright idea and what belongs in the trashbin?
Total U.S. retail sales generated an estimated $400.6 billion in December, an increase of 6.5% compared with the same month last year, according to a Jan. 12 report from the U.S. Department of Commerce. Total sales for the 2011 calendar year increased 7.7% to $4.7 trillion compared with the prior year, the report said.
Shoppers will spend less money on holiday gifts and seasonal merchandise this year, according to the National Retail Federation's (NRF) 2011 "Holiday Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey." Shoppers will spend an average of $704.18 this holiday season, a $14 decrease compared with last year, according to the survey.
October 16, 2011
The holiday shopping season is almost here and strategies incorporating mobile marketing can expand your database, reaffirm customer loyalty and usher in new multichannel techniques to make the most of this holiday season.
Holiday retail sales are expected to increase 2.8% to $465.6 billion this season, according to an Oct. 6 National Retail Federation (NRF) forecast.
Online consumer holiday spending increased 12% compared with last year to $28.4 billion, according to digital business analytics firm comScore which measured spending up to December 22. It will hit $35 billion at its current pace, easily topping last year's total of $29.1 billion.
October 25, 2010
For the consumer, shopping is all about deals. Every year leading up to Black Friday and Cyber Monday, brands and retailers push deals to capitalize on the shopping season and gain traffic and buyers to their websites.
E-commerce sales jumped 5% to $27 billion for the 2009 holiday shopping season compared with a year ago, according to ComScore. The online measurement firm released the data on Dec. 30 based on online sales tallied November 1 through Christmas Eve.
To take advantage of consumers' desire for bargains this holiday season, search-focused sites are beefing up their price-comparison engines with enhancements such as better images, more reviews and easier-to-find coupons. TheFind.com has debuted a search format that helps consumers more quickly find coupons, while Ask.com has launched a coupon deals feature. Google Product Search, meanwhile, has updated its capabilities.
CRM and loyalty company Mall Networks is partnering with SoundBite Communications to deploy mobile marketing offers from CyberMonday.com. The site, run by Mall Networks and owned by Shop.org, is named after the Monday following Thanksgiving, one of the biggest online shopping days of the year. The partnership was announced November 24.
More than half (53%) of retailers' 2009 holiday advertising budgets are staying at the same level as last year, while 41% of retailers are seeing their ad spending allowances increase, according to analysis by Google and OTX, a consumer research and consulting firm.
'The Wall Street Journal' had some good news for the ad industry this week, reporting that retailers including Target, Wal-Mart, Kmart and the Gap are boosting their holiday ad spending above last year's levels.
With Thanksgiving falling late in November, consumers will start shopping prior to so-called Black Friday and Cyber Monday, according to Experian's data analysis. Those days mark the start of the Holiday shopping season.
Kohl's Department Stores will increase its investment in digital media by 25% this holiday season. The chain will also boost the amount of mailings to Kohl's Charge Card users, including distributing a men's holiday gift guide in select markets.
October 12, 2009
Twitter will play a larger role in retailers' marketing plans this year than in the past, and not only because the social site is much more prominent than it was last year.
Holiday sales are more important than ever this year, as retailers gear up for the final quarter of this recession year. As marketers begin to plan their strategy for the holiday season, five seasoned e-mail marketing veterans share their tips on the best way to reach consumers through the inbox during the busy shopping season.
Sears Holdings Corp. has introduced the Sears and Kmart Christmas Club gift card program, which allows consumers to save ahead for their holiday purchases at Sears and Kmart stores or online at either merchant's Web site. Consumers who sign up before October 31 can earn up to a 3% reward, up to a maximum of $100, based on upon the stored value on their cards as of November 14.
Company of the week R2C GroupR2C creates, produces, distributes and measures messages that inspire and compel consumers to do something with a brand to drive commercial advantage. The full-service advertising agency specializes in creative, production, media, analytics and performance. |
What's in our mailbox this month: fitness postcards from Retro Fitness, American Woman Fitness Centers, Union's United Taekwondo Academy, and Bally Total Fitness. (We're totally pumped.)
Social data can improve a brand's bottom line and customer relationships. Just ask brands Infiniti and Diamond Nexus.
Here are three must-have data sets that every marketer should include in his or her email strategy.
