• Multichannel Merchant, Wednesday, October 25, 2006 1 PM

Relationship marketing initiatives are on the rise this year among merchants planning holiday promotions--cutting into traditional price-based promotions, according to a report by Portland, OR-based online solutions provider WebTrends.

Twice as many respondents to a WebTrends survey (23%) said they would not be using price-based promotions to generate online revenue from customers during the holidays, compared with 11% in 2005. Even free shipping has dropped in popularity, from 62% of retailers using it in 2005 to only 45% in 2006.

Relationship-based tactics include e-mail search-engine marketing strategies that allow retailers to understand visitor intent and leverage behavior-based insights to target customers with relevant messages.

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