'Net Features : holiday

Start Promoting: Holiday Guide for Merchants

Allison Howen — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 21:20:00 GMT

The term “holiday” is defined as a day of festivity or recreation when no work is done. For merchants, however, holidays tend to increase the workload and (hopefully) sales, because holidays typically give consumers more free time (and a reason) to shop for themselves, for others and for festive products, in general.

In order to receive the benefits that holidays can bring in, merchants must first spend time creating a marketing plan for each special day. For example, popular holidays, such as Thanksgiving or Independence Day, require months of planning and robust marketing, including search advertisements, an email campaign and a social strategy. On the other hand, merchants may decide that email and social are suitable channels for promoting smaller holidays, like Grandparents’ Day or Groundhog Day.

To prepare the appropriate type of campaign for each holiday, merchants must first choose which special dates to acknowledge. Luckily, Website Magazine has compiled a list of holidays, complete with some strategic tips, to help merchants plan out their marketing initiatives. Check out the month-by-month breakdown of important dates below:

(Note: the dates are based on the 2013 calendar)

January

Merchants should use January not only to recuperate from last year’s busiest shopping season, but also as a time to start preparing for next year’s holiday shopping season. This is because December’s holiday campaigns are still top-of-mind, and should provide merchants with insights into what worked and what didn’t work. That being said, January also has some pretty important holidays that merchants can use to promote sales, such as New Year’s Day and Martin Luther King Day.

January 1 – New Year’s Day

January 20 – Inauguration Day (Once every four years after the presidential election)

January 21 – Martin Luther King Day (third Monday in January)

February

February hosts both popular holidays that require strong marketing, such as Valentine’s Day, as well as some quirky holidays, like Groundhog Day and Mardi Gras, that can be promoted with a strategic email and social campaign. Additionally, Leap Day occurs in February about every four years, which presents merchants with a unique opportunity to offer some exclusive sales. Lent also provides some clever marketing tactics, as those who observe Lent typically give up a personal vice during this time (from Feb. 13 through March 30). Perhaps you can encourage them through their journey by offering replacements.

February 2 – Groundhog Day

February 10 – Chinese New Year (The first day of the Chinese calendar)

February 12 – Lincoln’s Birthday

February 12 – Mardi Gras (The last day before Lent)

February 14 – Valentine’s Day

February 18 – Presidents’ Day (third Monday in February)

February 29 (2016) – Leap Day (typically every four years)

March

The most popular holiday in March is typically St. Patrick’s Day, however, in 2013, Easter also falls in this month, which means that merchants should plan their campaigns accordingly. Furthermore, March 20 is the first day of spring, which merchants can use as a way to promote new spring/summer items.

March 17 – St. Patrick’s Day

March 20 – First Day of Spring (Spring Equinox)

March 25 – Passover Begins (starts on the 15th day of the Jewish month of Nissan)

March 31 – Easter (first Sunday after or on the first full moon, after the Spring Equinox in the Northern Hemisphere)

April

April might start out as a joke, but merchants should take marketing campaigns during this month seriously. This is because Tax Day is April 15, which means that a good majority of consumers are going to have some extra spending money.

April 1 – April Fool's Day

April 2 – Passover Ends

April 15 – Tax Day

April 22 – Earth Day

May

Before the flowers begin to bloom in May, merchants should have their Mother’s Day campaigns running in full force – as this is one of the busiest shopping times of the season.

May 5 – Cinco de Mayo

May 12 – Mother’s Day (second Sunday of May)

May 27 – Memorial Day (last Monday in May)

June

With summer on everyone's mind, June is a great time to launch some “hot” Father’s Day deals.

June 16 – Father’s Day (third Sunday of June)

June 21 – First Day of Summer (Summer Solstice)

July

Independence Day is summer’s biggest holiday, which means that merchants should start launching their marketing campaigns for Fourth of July shortly after Father’s Day in order to receive the best results.

July 4 – Independence Day

August

Although August may be lacking big-name holidays, merchants should use this month to promote end-of-summer and back-to-school sales.

August 21 – Senior Citizens Day

September

Back-to-school sales typically run through the end of September, but there are a few notable holidays in this month that merchants can use within promotions, such as Labor Day and Patriot Day.

September 2 – Labor Day (first Monday in September)

September 8 – National Grandparents’ Day (first Sunday after Labor Day)

September 11 – Patriot Day

September 22 – First Day of Fall (Fall Equinox)

October

October is a time when merchants can launch spooky sales to capitalize on Halloween. They should also use this time to start preparing for the busiest shopping season of the year, which is right around the corner.

October 6 – Boss's Day

October 14 – Columbus Day (second Monday in October)

October 31 – Halloween

November

The busiest shopping season of the year officially kicks off on Thanksgiving every year, which means that merchants should start launching holiday-related search advertisements at the beginning of this month in order to see sales skyrocket on Black Friday and Small Business Saturday.

November 11 – Veterans’ Day

November 28 – Thanksgiving Day (fourth Thursday in November)

November 28 – First Day of Hanukkah (25th day of Kislev, according to the Hebrew calendar)

November 29 – Black Friday (first Friday after Thanksgiving)

November 30 – Small Business Saturday (first Saturday after Thanksgiving)

December

Holiday sales should be in full force by December 1, but merchants should continue their holiday marketing initiatives through Christmas, before switching to year-end sale campaigns.

December 2 – Cyber Monday (first Monday after Thanksgiving)

December 5 – Last Day of Hanukkah (Eight days after the start of Hanukkah)

December 7 – Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day

December 21 – First Day of Winter (Winter Solstice)

December 24 – Christmas Eve

December 25 – Christmas

December 26 – Kwanzaa (until January 1st)

December 31 (New Year’s Eve)

Other Important Dates

While this list has more than 40 important dates on it, there are undoubtedly many other holidays that merchants can create marketing campaigns around – like National Hug Day (January 21), National Pancake Day (February 28) and Sweetest Day (the third Saturday in October). Moreover, merchants can create sales and promotions around dates that are special to their company, like an anniversary or founder’s birthday. By creating sales around specific dates, merchants can help increase traffic and conversions as it provides consumers with a sense of urgency. That being said, it is also important to not overdo or promote holidays too close together, because consumers won't pay attention to a "special holiday sale" if it occurs too frequently.

Don't Forget Small Business Saturday

Allison Howen — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 16:50:00 GMT

There is no doubt that as November approaches, retailers certainly have Black Friday and Cyber Monday top of mind. With that being said, they should also not forget about Small Business Saturday.

American Express formed Small Business Saturday three years ago to create exposure for small businesses within the United States. The Small Business Saturday campaign asks consumers to support their local small businesses on the day after Black Friday, which is November 24th. Last year, more than one hundred million people came together to participate in shopping at small businesses within their communities.

The best part of the Small Business Saturday campaign is that it provides small businesses with free and local advertising. To participate, merchants simply need to visit American Express’s dedicated website to download free marketing materials, which include email templates, online banners and personalized signage. Furthermore, qualifying merchants can receive free geo-targeted online advertising that drives traffic to either their website or Facebook Page. It is also important to note that the Small Business Saturday website even includes pre-written social media posts, to help businesses and consumers spread the word.

However, since Small Business Saturday falls during the busiest shopping season of the year, participating merchants should definitely take a little time to plan ahead. For example, merchants should consider creating an exclusive promotion for November 24 that will attract consumers into their businesses or onto their websites. Once that has been accomplished, merchants should focus on promoting their special through multiple channels, such as on their website, on their social profiles and within their email marketing campaigns.

Say Hello to Facebook Monday

Allison Howen — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 15:23:00 GMT

Some merchants are forgetting about Cyber Monday, and instead, are focusing their energy on “Facebook Monday.”

This is because a new survey from social commerce solutions provider Payvment reveals that Facebook merchants are optimistic that their storefronts will produce better sales this holiday season. In fact, the F-Commerce Facts survey reveals that 49 percent of Facebook sellers anticipate an increase in sales over last year, while only 13 percent expect a decline in sales.

Additionally, the survey found that 48 percent of Facebook merchants plan to run holiday promotions in order to boost sales. While 34 percent of merchants plan to offer free shipping, 23 percent plan to offer a 10 percent price discount and 18 percent plan to offer a discount of up to 20 percent. Furthermore, the study found that many merchants plan to leverage Facebook ads to capture their consumers’ attention. For example, 42 percent of the survey’s respondents report having used Facebook Ads in the past, and more than 65 percent of those respondents claim that they will use Facebook ads again – due to their effectiveness and customer acquisition results.

Other statistics worth noting show that F-commerce sellers are increasingly promoting their storefronts through other social channels, including Twitter and Pinterest. In fact, 35 percent of merchants use Twitter to drive traffic to their Facebook storefronts, while 20 percent of merchants use Pinterest to drive traffic. Other channels that F-commerce merchants use to promote their storefronts include their company website (32 percent), email (30 percent), print ads (8 percent), direct mail (9 percent) and search ads (7 percent).

According to the study, almost half of the respondents choose to sell on Facebook because it makes it easy to market to their consumers through deals and product promotions. However, 54 percent of the respondents like to sell on Facebook because their customers don't need to leave the social platform in order to make a purchase.

“With hundreds of thousands of small businesses now selling products on Facebook and many planning significant promotions and discounts for the holidays, Cyber Monday could very well become ‘Facebook Monday’ this year,” said Jim Stoneham, CEO of Payvment. “The data also shows that Facebook sellers are continuing to invest in promoting their storefronts via Facebook Ads, as well as offering deals and promotions and aggressively marketing their stores via other social channels such as Twitter and Pinterest.”

Google Predicts a “Nonline” Holiday Shopping Season

Allison Howen — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 02:16:00 GMT

As October is ending and November is quickly approaching, it is safe to say that retailers have one thing on their minds – the holidays.

However, merchants should be aware that the 2012 holiday season is going to be different than years past, at least according to Google. This is because the search engine giant is predicting that this year will be the first “Nonline” holiday season, which, according to Google’s blog, means that this year’s online and offline shopping experiences are going to be more seamless than ever before.

This is partly due to the rising popularity of mobile devices, which are increasingly being leveraged as shopping tools for consumers on the go. In fact, according to recent research from Google and Ipsos OTX, 4 in 5 mobile phone and tablet owners will use their devices to aid in holiday shopping. For example, 56 percent of tablet users will use their device to compare prices, while 44 percent of smartphone users will use their device to discover a nearby store based on location. This means that retailer’s with a mobile optimized website or an app are already a step ahead of their competition.

This multi-channel approach to shopping further proves that the lines between offline and online shopping experiences are blurring. This is especially true considering that the research also shows that 51 percent of shoppers will look up products online and then visit a store to make a purchase, while 32 percent will research online, visit a store to view the product and then return online to make the purchase. Conversely, 17 percent of consumers will first visit a store to view a product and then make the purchase online. This is why it is vital for retailers to maintain a consistent brand experience across all channels.

Another key take away from the study found that merchants should be prepared for early shoppers. This is because 54 percent of consumers are expected to start their shopping before Black Friday and 77 percent will start by the end of Black Friday weekend. The best way that merchants can capture the attention of early shoppers is by promoting their holiday deals before the shopping season officially kicks off on Black Friday.

All of this being said, the real take away from this study is that consumers are shopping anywhere and everywhere this holiday season, which is why merchant's should focus on providing their customers with a consistent experience across devices and platforms. By doing this, merchants have the ability to collect revenue and connect with their customers through more channels than ever before.

Downtime the Focus of Holiday Prep

Allison Howen — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 18:45:00 GMT

Have you started preparing your website for the holidays? If not, you may be a step behind of your competition.

This is because a new study from cloud hosting company Rackspace reveals that 81 percent of e-commerce decision makers (CIOs, CTOs and IT chiefs) are taking steps to improve the online shopping experience for the 2012 holiday season, such as increasing computing capacity, redesigning websites and addressing security concerns.

In fact, the survey found that one of the biggest challenges that retailers are taking precautions against is website downtime, with 77 percent taking steps to reduce or eliminate this problem during the holiday season. Perhaps the reason this issue is top of mind is because downtime posed a problem for 18 percent of survey respondents last year, with losses ranging from hundreds of thousands of dollars to tens of millions. Furthermore, 45 percent of the respondents estimate they would lose between $500,000 and $5 million if their company’s site went down for a single day during the holiday season, which could be the reason why 28 percent of respondents are working with their third-party hosting provider to make sure customers can keep shopping online during high-traffic periods.

“Many online retailers have found out the hard way in 2011 that their internal IT systems and resources weren’t ready to handle large spikes in holiday sales,” said Adrianna Bustamante, who works in commerce channel development for Rackspace. “With 45 percent of retailers expecting holiday sales to grow this year, it is important that retailers take steps to improve the online shopping experience and reduce or eliminate downtime during the all-important holiday season.”

Taking steps to improve site performance is very important, especially with the expectation that this year’s holiday sales will be better than last year. Other findings from the study reveal that 29 percent of retailers are preparing for the season by hiring more IT staff, while 37 percent will use load testing, 33 percent will build up website redundancy and 48 percent will increase computing capacity to improve their site’s shopping experience.

Holiday Marketing Update from Kenshoo

Allison Howen — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 16:00:00 GMT

The early holiday numbers are in, which has led digital marketing software provider Kenshoo to unveil its 2011 Online Retail Holiday Shopping Report.

Key findings from the report include:

Holiday revenue that is driven by search advertising increased 22 percent year over year (YoY), while average order size grew 5 percent.
Search advertising budgets increased by 29 percent YoY throughout the season, and average cost per click increased 9 percent, but overall return on advertising spending (ROAS) was $5.22.
Search advertising conversion rates on Thanksgiving increased 28 percent YoY and sales revenue grew 40 percent.
Search advertising impressions decreased 9 percent YoY during the 5 days from Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday; however, total clicks increased 16 percent.
Overall search advertising click-through rates for the holiday season increased 11 percent YoY.

Some tips for online advertisers during the remainder of the holiday season include the following:

Focus on quality as keyword costs increase.
Capitalize on timely opportunities by scheduling budgets and bids.
Connect data sources to understand how paid search influences – and is influenced by – other media.
Hold some holiday budget back for post-Christmas spending, which allows advertisers to take advantage of less competition and consumers' focus on returns and gift card spending.

Website Tips for Increased Holiday Traffic

Allison Howen — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 21:30:00 GMT

Just because Cyber Monday is over, doesn’t mean that holiday website traffic is going to slow down.

And while this may be welcome news to retailers, it is important to make sure that websites are optimized for the holidays – Check out these Website tips from content delivery network Mirror Image.

Mobile Shopping Patterns of the Holiday Season

Allison Howen — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 15:45:00 GMT

Hopefully your site is already optimized for mobile, because it has proven to be a popular avenue for consumer shopping – especially during this holiday season.

According to a study from Internet platform and services company Limelight Networks, 20 to 25 percent more consumers will research and/or purchase holiday gifts on their Internet-connected mobile devices this year compared to last year.

“As ownership of smartphones and tablets continues to rise, more consumers are shopping on these devices, making it imperative for retailers to seriously consider their m-commerce strategies,” says David Hatfield, Senior Vice President, Sales and Marketing, Limelight Networks. “Retailers who optimize their mobile shopping experiences will have the opportunity to increase sales conversions this holiday season and boost brand loyalty for future shopping.”

Further results of the study reveal:

Smartphones

Eighty-nine percent of consumers intend to research and/or purchase holiday gifts on their smartphone this year, compared to 71 percent last year
Thirty-five percent of consumers intend to research and/or purchase 20 to 100 percent of their holiday gifts on their smartphone
Eleven percent of consumers report that they are not planning to use their smartphone to research and/or purchase holiday gifts this year – a decrease of 62 percent compared to last year

Tablets

Eighty-nine percent of consumers intend to research and/or purchase holiday gifts on their tablet this year, compared to 74 percent last year
Forty-nine percent of consumers intend to research and/or purchase holiday gifts on their tablet for between 20 to 100 percent of their holiday gifts
Eleven percent of consumers report that they are not planning to use their tablet to shop for holiday gifts this year – a decrease of 58 percent compared to last year

Drop The Turkey, Get Back to Work

Pete Prestipino — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 14:00:00 GMT

Xobni has released the results of its 2nd annual survey of holiday email behavior and it's pretty dismal. If you're planning on not checking work-related email over this long weekend, then you'll be in the minority.

Hightlights from the study include:

- 79% of U.S. working adults say they receive work email on traditional holidays
- 19% of people said that they are actually “thankful for the distraction” or “relieved” to receive work email on holidays.
- 37% of people surveyed admitted to feeling annoyed, frustrated or resentful after receiving work-related emails on holidays.
- 41% of people that admitted to checking email because they believe doing so would ease the work load once they return from the “break.”

So who are the worst offenders? According to the Xobni survey, employed, middle-aged adults. 58 percent of those age 35-44 admit to checking work email around the holidays.

Social Geo-location Strategies for Black Friday

Allison Howen — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 19:00:00 GMT

Big names in the retail industry are jumping on the geolocation bandwagon, especially for the busiest shopping weekend of the year.

For example, Sports Authority is offering $25 cash cards for customers that check-in with Foursquare and spend $100 or more, JC Penney will donate $25 (up to $100,000) to the Salvation Army for every Foursquare check-in, while American Eagle is unlocking a 15 percent off coupon to every customer that checks-in on Foursquare. However, these promotions don’t have to be limited to big name corporations, small businesses can jump on the geolocation bandwagon too.

Here are three tips for merchants that want to create social geolocation promotions for the busiest shopping weekend of the year:

Foursquare Specials - Foursquare provides merchants with the ability to create many different types of offers that are available for customers upon check-in – which can be very valuable during the busiest shopping weekend of the year. For instance, merchants can create a discount with purchase offer, like $10 off of a $50 purchase, or free gift with purchase specials. So if your business isn’t already on Foursquare, use this as an incentive to create a merchant page today.

Facebook Contests - It is time to think outside of the box. Organize a contest that gives away a free gift through a random drawing of the customers that check-into your store on Facebook Places over the weekend. Also, to ensure your winning customer comes back and shops more, make the free gift a $50 gift card to your store.

Reward the Early Birds - Although your store may not be opening at midnight like many other retailers on Black Friday, merchants can still reward the early birds. Promote a free gift or special discount for the first twenty customers that check-in either on Facebook or Foursquare on Friday morning.

For more holiday-related social media tips, check out these tips from Website Magazine.

Feast on These Holiday Keyword Strategies

Allison Howen — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 21:30:00 GMT

The National Retail Federation predicts that a 10-percent increase from last year will result in 152 million people shopping this Black Friday weekend. Furthermore, 21 percent of consumers are planning on staying home to surf for deals on Cyber Monday, according to the Retail Industry Leader Association.

"The growth of online sales has made Cyber Monday and other online holiday shopping trends equally as important to retailers as Black Friday,” says Retail Industry Leaders Association president Sandy Kennedy. “Unlike a decade ago, a successful holiday season now means success in the store and online."

So, as you prepare to enjoy your Thanksgiving dinner, it is vitally important to take some time and review some of the most profitable keywords of the season. When used frequently throughout the week of Black Friday, merchants can maximize their online and in-store traffic for their busiest shopping weekend of the year.

Keeping up with Keywords

Since 2004, Black Friday and Cyber Monday searches have grown dramatically, especially in the weeks and days leading up to the Thanksgiving holiday.

Currently, some of the top searches relating to the keywords “Black Friday” and “Cyber Monday” unsurprisingly include Black Friday ads, Black Friday 2011, Black Friday sales, Black Friday deals, Cyber Monday deals, cyber deals, Black Monday and Cyber Monday sales.

However, it is important not to limit your keywords to variations of the terms Black Friday and Cyber Monday. For instance, many retailers draw customers in over this busy shopping weekend by promoting free gifts – so why not think outside the box and incorporate other terms into your keyword strategy, such as Freebie Friday, Holiday Sale, after-Thanksgiving deals, free gift or Christmas specials.

Additionally, merchants should also mention key terms from specific products and services that they are selling and promoting during the holiday season, such as Black Friday Electronics, Cyber Monday Appliances, Thanksgiving shoe deals, Christmas toy sale, etc.

Where to use Keywords

The most obvious use for keywords are in pay-per-click advertisements, but merchants should also be using these words in their social-media posts.

Not only will the use of keywords in social-media posts reach your fans and followers, but it may also help a merchant appear higher in search results because of the influence that real time has on SEO. This week is especially critical for brands to mention Black Friday, Cyber Monday and other keywords in Twitter posts because these keywords have been and will continue to trend.

For example, Best Buy has promoted (paid for) the keywords “Black Friday” to trend. Therefore, any merchant or consumer that uses the terms Black Friday in a post will have an opportunity for more Tweeters to view that post because it is trending.

However, marketers that are focusing on using keywords for advertisements may want to consider locally targeting their ads. Therefore, it is important to know which states search the most for Black Friday and Cyber Monday-related terms. Currently, the state with the most Black Friday searches is Kentucky, followed by Ohio, Missouri, South Dakota and Minnesota. The states with the most Cyber Monday-related searches are Kentucky, South Dakota, Missouri, New Jersey and Ohio.

Staying on Trend

Being aware of how consumers are searching is a key aspect of staying on trend and keeping up with keywords. Merchants, especially this week, should be using these holiday keywords in everything from ads to social-media posts in order to maximize their exposure within search results. However, it is important to remember that everyone searches differently, so using popular keywords along with some of the less popular yet more targeted keywords should prove to be a winning combination.

Affluent Shoppers May Drive Online Holiday Sales

Michael Garrity — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 19:35:00 GMT

Despite the consistently depressing news about the state of the economy as a whole, the National Retail Federation (NRF) is still predicting a 2.8-percent increase in holiday retail sales in 2011, thanks in large part to the influence of affluent shoppers.

The increase, however, is smaller than the 5.2-percent gain seen in 2010. Last year's holiday season also saw a greater lift in the number of visits to online retail sites than in sales, meaning that many users were visiting these retailers just to research product and store information.

Past Performance
These predictions from the NRF come from studying the data garnered from the Retail 500 companies during the 2010 holiday season. During the week of Thanksgiving and Black Friday last year, visits to these sites spiked 8 percent. The week of Cyber Monday saw an increase of 11 percent.

However, consumer feelings on the current economic climate are more negative now than they have been in the last two years, which obviously worries retailers.

Things are Looking Up
Never fear, though, because the NRF is reporting that "traffic to online retailers has grown with visits up 10 percent year-over-year for the week ending October 23, 2011."

This is a considerable amount of growth at any time, but it is especially promising with the holiday season right around the corner. What is important to note is that 28 percent of this traffic is made up of the four most affluent "Mosaic Groups" over-indexed against the population.

These groups are the Power Elite (household incomes of $125K+), Flourishing Families ($75K-$250K), Booming with Confidence ($75K+) and Suburban Style ($75K-$175K). Increased interest in online shopping by this more prosperous segment of the consumer population could likely be the driving force behind another lift in online sales during the 2011 holiday season and, as such, should be targeted appropriately by Internet marketers and retailers.

MarketLive Report Suggests a Promising Holiday Season

Allison Howen — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 15:00:00 GMT

E-commerce provider MarketLive has released a report that examines the third-quarter performance data from more than 100 retail sites, as well as provides tips for the upcoming holiday season.

The MarketLive Performance Index Volume 16, Q3 2011 Update: Anticipating the Holiday Rush, reveals that online retailers have seen increases in traffic and revenue during the third quarter. The findings include a 16-percent increase in visitors, 18-percent increase in revenue, 5-percent increase in conversions and 15-percent increase in the “1-and-out” rate (the percentage of visits ending after one page).

"It will be critical for merchants to find ways – beyond just slashing prices – to engage holiday shoppers who are likely to research and shop heavily online,” says Mark Pierce, MarketLive CEO. “Those who succeed in doing that will see larger gains in conversion and sales."

The report also includes some 2011 holiday strategy tips, including:

• Promote preseason bargains to encourage immediate and early bird shoppers, also emphasize the scarcity of popular items.

• Highlight customer service initiatives by promoting site-to-store purchasing and providing detailed information about delivery cutoff dates.

• Use social media to connect with shoppers on-the-go and tell them about is store offerings.

Live-chat Talk for the Holidays

Allison Howen — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 21:00:00 GMT

A new study analyzes the importance of implementing live chat into an online business model, especially during the holiday season.

The Bold Software study shows that large retailers, which are defined by having 10 or more concurrent live chat operators, surprisingly claim that this holiday season is less important than it was in 2010, and therefore are spending less time preparing for the season.

Although large companies claim not to be preparing as much for the 2011 holiday season, 80 percent still agree that live chat increases in importance during the holiday season. Furthermore, 76 percent of companies agree that the volume for live chat increases during the holiday season, and 79 percent agree that live chat sale conversions increase during the holidays as well.

The survey also found that 15 percent of e-commerce firms plan to use live chat for sales rather than support this holiday season, which is up from 10 percent in 2010. Seventy-three percent plan on using live chat for both sales and support, which is up from 69 percent in 2010, and 12 percent plan on using live chat for support only, which is down from last year’s 21 percent.

“Why, if live chat plays an increasingly important role over the shopping season for larger firms, don’t many respondents see the season as important, or actively prepare for it? We believe the answer is simply because these customers have come to realize that live chat interactions are always important, regardless of the time of year,” says Matt Tharp, director of client services for Bold Software. “Consumer findings from our third annual Live Chat Effectiveness report coupled with a recent survey of merchants conducted by the etailing group support the idea that larger companies offering live chat are taking the channel seriously at all times – the holiday season being no different.”

Additional key findings from the report found that the top two planned activities amongst survey takers for the holiday season are “discounts” and “specific product promotions,” with Internet-only specials coming in third amid top planned promotions.

The top five things that website owners are focusing on to prepare for the holidays include moderate design changes, landing pages, site navigation, optimization of live chat and site search.

For more 2011 holiday-related articles, check out:

Five Steps to a Successful Holiday Email Campaign

Report Gives Insight for the 2011 Holiday Season

5 Social Media Tips for the Holiday Season

Partnership Launches IP Audience Zone Targeting

Michael Garrity — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 01:15:00 GMT

Every year, the online retail industry sees considerable growth during the holiday shopping season over the previous year, making Digital Element's new parnership with Semcasting to launch a new privacy-sensitive online marketing tool great for e-tailers.

The goal of this new tool is to target potential consumers in their "digital neighborhoods," the most important places to reach online shoppers.

Digital Element is a leading provider of geolocation and IP Intelligence technology. Their pairing with Semcasting will provide its IP-to-ZIP code targeting technology with Semcasting's IP Audience Zone Targeting solution, a technology that automatically scores and categorizes online traffic into user demographic segments, allowing for secure and full qualified audience coverge.

This melding of technologies will go beyond the estimated 35 percent of consumers targeted by cookies.

"Instead of relying on an increasingly limited base of cookied users, IP Audience Zone Targeting allows retailers to personalize the website experience using an advanced, privacy-sensitive, and demographically appropriate targeting process," says Semcasting CEO Ray Kingman, "Our solution classifies - in real time - anonymous web visitors in order to automatically provide personalized content and targeted promotions specific to digital neighborhoods across America, based on user type and demographic profiles."

IP Audience Zone will be able to identify a Web user's location down to their ZIP code by using a multi-step analytical process that incorporates Digital Element's NetAcuity Edge technology. After that, they will segment the ZIP codes by audience type and assign the demographics associated with them as sub-ZIP code micro areas for precise digital targeting.

Semcasting's IP Audience Zone gets its data from the premiere directing marketing database containing information on over 227 million individuals and more than 126 million households. They then map that to the U.S. Internet using IP addresses.

With retail e-commerce expected to grow by approximately 13.7 percent in 2011, for sales in excess of $188 billion, this solution can help retailers enhance reach and frequency, while enriching the analytics of digital campaigns through the targeting of website visitors based on the demographic and psychographic data used in other advertising mediums.