I don't know about you, but I like to know what my competitors are doing in the marketplace. I think the same can be said for our clients, they keep a close eye on the competitors to see how they will position themselves. The Center For Media Research just released "Social Media Retail Ads Offer Online Holiday Shopping Incentives" which shows the trends this year...
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|
Economic Impact on Online Retailer's Holiday Plans in 2009 vs. 2008 (% of Respondents) |
|
Holiday Plans |
% of Retailers |
|
Decreased use of "no condition" free shipping |
17% |
|
Starting free shipping earlier |
30 |
|
Higher discount percentages |
16 |
|
Lower discount percentages |
16 |
|
Discounts offered earlier |
34 |
|
Lower in-store staffing |
23 |
|
Lower inventories |
41 |
|
Greater use of social media |
47 |
|
Source: Shop.org/BIGresearch, October 2009 |
|
Top Reasons Why People Will Spend More of Holiday Budget Online This Year |
|
Reason for increasing shopping Online |
% of Respondents |
|
24 hour shopping |
41.9% |
|
Easier to compare prices |
34.0 |
|
Free shipping |
33.1 |
|
More convenient |
32.4 |
|
No crowds |
24.9 |
|
Easier to fine items |
16.7 |
|
Better variety |
12.0 |
|
Email promotions |
10.3 |
|
No sales tax |
9.9 |
|
Avoid checkout lines |
9.8 |
|
Source: Shop.org/BIGresearch, October 2009 |
Of the 5.7% of people who plan to spend less of their holiday budget online:
- 22.8% said that they'll pull back due to expensive shipping charges
- 12.5% say they like to see or handle items before they buy
- 10.8% prefer a store experience
Help your clients to compete by using campaigns that point to advantages of shopping their brick and mortar stores. Use a tag line from the merchant themselves or even go with a whole "buy local" campaign where you use local merchants to invite customers in and list out the details of why it is an advantage to buy local.