As retailers gear up for the holiday shopping season, many could miss critical Q4 sales by not realigning marketing strategies with shifting consumer shopping habits. A new research report from Yesmail Interactive, titled: “Consumer Online Behavior Report: Developing Informed Digital Marketing Strategies For Holiday Success,” compared input from 500 consumers and 20 leading brands. It concluded that marketers are missing opportunities to capitalize on consumer shopping preferences ― such as sending promotions at times when consumers are most likely to make purchases.
For example, the study found that consumers prefer to do their online shopping early in the week and at night, while in-store shoppers hit the aisles over the weekend; however, most retailers engage during the middle of the day, exactly when people were not in the shopping mindset. In addition, only 5% of email campaigns are deployed during the peak online shopping time: Most are sent early in the morning when consumers are least likely to be shopping.
In the survey, Yesmail polled the consumers about their shopping habits during the holidays and in general. The company then tracked and analyzed the digital marketing campaigns of 20 companies including: Amazon, Apple, Best Buy, Crate & Barrel, Dell, Game Stop, HH Gregg, JC Penney, Kohl’s, Macy’s, Nordstrom, Pottery Barn, Rue La La, Sears, Sprint, T-Mobile, Toys ‘R’ Us, Verizon, Walmart and Williams Sonoma. Yesmail then compared the purchase patterns of consumers reflected in the survey with the brand campaigns to identify where marketers could potentially improve their tactics this holiday season.
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The Yesmail report also revealed the latest consumer shopping trends and other findings with implications for marketers during the 2012 holiday season.
