• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, December 23, 2013

According to an analysis of data Internet Retailercollected on the top 1,000 North American e-retailers by 2012 sales, the 100 largest e-retailers by sales each sent 3,559 promotional e-mails, an average of 4.26 messages, to consumers in their databases during the first 12 days of December. The biggest e-mail senders sent 3.2 messages per day during the same period, twice the rate they e-mailed during the entire month of November.

More than half 532 of the top 1,000 e-retailers sent at least one e-mail during the period, and the average was 6.68 messages.

The top five e-mailers by volume were:

• Women’s apparel e-retailer AshleyStewart.com, No. 686 in the Second 500 Guide, sent 46 messages from Dec. 1 to Dec. 12. The largest discount it promoted in a subject line was 50% off
• Toy and hobbyist e-retailer HobbyTron.com, No. 578, sent 41 messages, with at least one message promoting 66% off in its subject line
• Discount e-retailer NoMoreRack.com, No. 202 in the Top 500 Guide, sent 37 messages and promoted free shipping in its subject lines. NoMoreRack said in early December that it had pulled in $78 million in sales from Nov. 1 to Dec. 2, 168% more than the same period last year
• Cookware e-retailer Cooking.com (No. 220) sent 35 messages and offered 50% off
• Cookware e-retailer ChefsCatalog.com (No. 317) sent 32 messages with a high offer of 70% off

Melina Ash, co-founder and chief merchandising officer of NoMoreRack.com, says e-mail marketing is performing well so far this holiday season, and open rates are up. She says “… open rates have increased by about 20% from the norm… (an) increase in traction… (with) door busters…”

These top five senders, by volume, sent an average of 3.2 messages per day, double the 1.6 daily average they sent during all of November. The top 20 senders by volume sent an average of 2.3 messages per day, up from an average of 1.4 in November. Fourteen of the top 20 senders come from the Top 500 Guide, and six come from the Second 500 Guide, which includes retailers with $18.8 million in annual sales or less.

The top 100 e-retailers as ranked in the Top 500 Guide sent an average of 4.26 e-mails from Dec. 1-Dec. 12 to the e-mail used by Internet Retailer in this survey; that compares to 7.78 e-mail average for all 30 days of November.

Among the top 20 e-retailers by December volume, says the report, BeyondTheRack, a Canadian flash-sale e-retailer and No. 155 in the Top 500 and thirteenth in the top 20 by volume, promoted the greatest discount in an e-mail subject line, 85% off. ValuePetSupplies, No. 674 in the Second 500 and fifteenth by December e-mail volume, offered the lowest percent-off offer, 21%. The most popular high offer among the top 20 retailers by e-mail volume was 50% off, which four e-retailers offered during the Dec. 1-Dec. 12, 2013 monitoring period, which included Cyber Monday, the Monday following Thanksgiving.

For more information from Internet Retailer, please visit here.