• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, August 5, 2016

A Heads-Up On Holiday Retailing Strategies

Former strategy and innovation executive, Kim Garretson, shares data from a frequent shoppers study by e-tailing on consumer holiday shopping behaviors in 2015, alerting retailers to consumer responses in planning for the upcoming season.  

Last Fall, says Kim, MyAlerts and the research firm e-Tailing Group surveyed 1,200 frequent e-commerce shoppers ahead of their holiday shopping, providing some early insights:

Consumer Holiday Shopping Habits

• 43% answered that they usually will wait for sales when first viewing products
• 37% said if the price is fair, they usually buy soon
• 50% said they always or frequently would opt-in to price drop email alerts, with another 37% saying they sometimes would opt-in to price alerts

Consumers encountering out-of-stocks represents $600 billion in losses each year according to the IHL Group, says the report. When the questions posed were about availability for Out-Of-Stock products, nearly every retailer answered: “We don’t know. Please keep checking back.” Yet, according to the 2015 eTailing Group research, when respondents were asked what they did when encountering out-of-stocks:

• 50% said they immediately go to a search engine to search for the specific product available elsewhere
• 43% said they immediately redirect to a competitive retailer’s Web site
• 66% said they would use the option for back-in-stock email alerts

Email Behavior

Retailers filled consumer’s email inboxes with 26% more generic email blasts last holiday. There was more than a 10% drop in revenue per email.

• 47% said they often unsubscribe when getting too many emails from retailers they rarely shop
• 43% said too many emails from even their favorite retailers cause them to consider unsubscribing
• 24% said they rarely read any generic retail emails and always delete them
• 12% said with these emails appearing on their mobile devices, they ignore these more than when on their desktops

Retailers report Email alert options they are adding to their sites this year, near the Add To Cart buttons:

• 80% said price drop alerts
• 78% said back-in-stock alerts
• 76% liked the option for alerts on wish list items
• 66% favored alerts for products they shared on social media
• 57% said alerts from their favorite brands launching new products.  

Data Privacy Concerns of Retailers

• 56% said they are increasingly concerned about personal data collection
• 17% said they have started to use blocking software to prevent data collection

To elevate holiday selling, the e-tailing group, in conjunction with MarketLive, shares the highlights from their 7th Annual Holiday Research study. After an extensive review of sites and selling techniques, the report focuses on 5 key areas:

• Get Picked: Survival of the Fittest
• Ready the Channels
• Circle the Critical Holidays
• Winning Gifting Tactics are Mandatory to Make the Numbers
• High Notes to Sing Holiday Sales

For additional information from e-tailing, please visit here.