"Up" Your Holiday Sales decree's MediaPost, giving us 5 ways to help our clients prepare....
"1. Targeting should reflect this year's sales opportunity and may be different than those in the past. Product mix will be different as retailers cut back on having excessive inventory on hand. Spending from men, especially young men, will hold up better this holiday season than spending from females.
2. The retail war will happen in December. While this has also been true in the past (only 10% of adults think that the Christmas shopping period starts on Black Friday), shopping will happen later this year as consumers look for deals and value. Recent sales reports for the 2009 Back to School period showed that shopping occurred later this year and it should also be noted that young men tend to shop later in December as well.
3. Time your message delivery to impact key sales dates. There are two fewer weekend sales days during this year's holiday period (16 weekend days vs. 14 weekend days in 2008). For many retailers, there are three other key peak sales dates this year:
Dec. 15: a Tuesday, is the last payday before Christmas. With consumers concerned about excessive use of credit, this day becomes even more important.
Dec. 19: is the last Saturday before Christmas. If consumers shop later, this day will see even higher volume sales than in the past.
Dec. 23: is the last full shopping day before Christmas.
4. Use a proven medium with broad reach, immediacy and creative impact. Studies conducted over the past year by The Advertising Research Federation, ZenithOptimedia and the Association of National Advertisers, to name just a few, demonstrate television's proven effectiveness as a leader in generating positive results.
5. Develop December specific media plans that recognize media usage patterns, fresh content and the impact of technology. For example, it's an industry myth that television usage plummets during December. In fact, television HUT levels remain relatively flat throughout the month"
With consumers having 3.4 Trillion dollars in cash on hand and consumer confidence up, we need to place our client's marketing message with the best possible schedule and creative.