subject: Holiday Season Best For Large Retailers [print this page] The analysis of the holiday shopping season is underway with new numbers rolling in every day. ComScore one of the largest and most respected scorekeepers on the Internet said e-commerce sales rose 5% from Nov.1 through Christmas Eve to $27.8 billion from $25.8 billion. From Black Friday through Christmas Eve sales grew 3.5%. While this is generally good news it should be noted that the overall increase came from two competing factors0 i.e. many more people purchased online but the average order amount per customer was less. The silver lining here is probably that as people experience a positive online shopping experience their willingness to continue shopping online will grow. In fact four out of five people who went on the Internet went to an online store at some point. As the economy improves we should expect that order value per customer should rise as well.
Shopping Days
Although many in online retail have hoped to establish a cyber Monday that rivals black Friday shoppers still cling to old traditions and habits.There was 11% growth on Black Friday 10% growth on Thanksgiving Day in the U.S. and 5% growth on Cyber Monday. December 15th a date that many feel is getting to be the last date to assure delivery before Christmas though that is no longer necessarily true saw the largest increase at 21%.
Shopping Categories
As expected electronics and toys were the big winners in 2009 holiday sales along with jewelry and watches. Apparel and specialty or luxury items did not do as well.
Successful Retail Strategies
Industry analysts say that many retailers engaged in early promotions that really helped to kick start the buying season. Retailers correctly read consumer sentiment as bargain hunting and responded with lower pricing.Related strategies such as offering coupons were also very successful. Traffic to coupon sites rose 33% to 37.5 million visitors in November as online shoppers sought to avoid paying full price. CouponsInc.com led the way with more than 8 million visitors up 9% followed by EverSave.com with 5.3 million visitors and RetailMeNot.com with 5.1 million visitors up 43%.
The second very powerful strategy involved free shipping. Many of the major retailers offered free shipping and or offered expedited ship to store and pick up options which also appealed to customers who were still scrambling to buy when the shipping schedule was tight in the last week before Christmas.
Biggest Winners
It is no surprise that the big winners this holiday season are the large retailers who could afford to aggressively market and sustain the revenue reduction associated with free shipping.
What about small retailers?
In fact much as the saying goes all boats rose during this high tide it is just that the biggest retailers got the biggest bump. Can the little guy compete in these waters? Yes they can. Small retailers need to focus on those strategies that are successful but inexpensive. One of the best of those is the highly tuned email campaign. Email is extremely affordable and most savvy marketers credit email with a great deal of their ongoing success. So even if you can not offer a ship to store option you can still be in the game by being credible and knowledgeable and targeting your market very carefully.
by: Jane Dawson
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