During the four-day U.S. Thanksgiving holiday the sports store REI ran a radio ad in southern California referring continually to consumer behavior. The conversation didn't go exactly like this, but
I'll give you the gist of it.
The announcer said "I bet you wanted the North Face Janey Winter Boots in a size 9." And the consumer said "How did you know, perfect." Then the announcer said
"Now you want the Marmont green jacket in a size small." And the woman said "Yes, how did you know." The announcer said "And you want the Gordini fall line II Soft-Shell Gloves for $24.95" And the
woman said "Yes, yes, yes."
The radio ad didn't highlight REI's Web site. It called attention to having all the items in stock the woman wanted based on her preferences. In the physical store
she needs to hunt the aisles for those preferences. Rather than search the Internet, online those preferences might find her based on search and browsing history, cookies and ad tags. Online, she
might see ads for useful products rather than be bombarded with ads for goods and services she cannot relate with.
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Over on REI's new Facebook page, Blake Rippetoe wrote on the wall "I was
driving to school today when an REI ad came on the radio," he wrote. "I get really excited thinking one finally came to Oklahoma. One did not come to Oklahoma. You just decided to advertise here for
some odd reason. Thank you for that awesome joke you played on me today."
Rippetoe probably didn't stop to think that retail stores no longer need a brick-and-mortar presence. And those that
have an online presence do a much better job at targeting consumer behavior. Sales on Cyber Monday rose 19.4%, compared with 14% during the same time frame last year, according to Coremetrics, which
tracks about 500 retailers. But I guess it depends on the company asked.
While consumers spent 90% more on Black Friday, compared with the same day in 2009, they spent 14% less on Cyber
Monday compared with the day known as the busiest shopping day of the year, according to SearchIgnite.
Regardless of the amount consumers spent online Cyber Monday, advertisers have the
option of serving up information on the types of items they know consumers want to see rather than playing a guessing game.