This document provides affiliate marketers with insights and strategies for maximizing holiday sales during the 2014 season based on analysis of sales data from 2013. It finds that the 2013 holiday season was the shortest in recent years, with most shoppers concentrating their spending later in December rather than starting earlier. Key sales days included Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Green Monday on December 8th. The document recommends strategies for affiliate marketers to promote different product categories on popular sales days and adapt to increased mobile shopping.

1. WHAT AFFILIATE MARKETERS
NEED TO KNOW TO MAXIMIZE
THEIR 2014 HOLIDAY SALES
US Sales Trends and What They Mean for Holiday 2014
® 2014, CJ, Inc. All rights reserved.
PRESENTED BY
CJ Affiliate by Conversant
Date 10/21/14

2. TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction
4 Holiday Trends in the Affiliate Channel
Holiday 2013 Insights
06 Holiday 2013 Season Summary
07 Top Categories on Key Holiday Sales Days
08 Affiliate Sales by Day
09 Publisher Sales on Key Holiday Sales Days
Strategies for Holiday 2014
11 Short Shopping Season…Again
12 Mark Your Calendars
13 Opportunities Beyond Cyber Monday
14 Strategies to Drive More Sales
15 Mobile Strategies
® 2014, 2 CJ, Inc. All rights reserved.
Select Daily Sales Trends
17 Clothing/Apparel
18 Women’s
19 Men’s
20 Children’s
21 Gifts
22 Toys
23 Accessories
24 Jewelry
25 Handbags
26 Shoes
27 Computer & Electronics
28 Consumer Electronics
29 Department Stores/Malls
30 Malls
31 Home & Garden
32 Kitchen
33 Cosmetics

3. Introduction
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4. HOLIDAY TRENDS IN THE AFFILIATE CHANNEL
With its comprehensive view into millions of daily transactions,
CJ Affiliate provides insights on the shopping trends that affect
online marketers. In this analysis, CJ presents the most popular
categories for shoppers last year and the publisher sites they
used to guide their shopping decisions. In addition, this analysis
presents smart strategies for affiliate marketers to deploy
during Holiday 2014, based on last year’s learnings.
Sales from over 3,000 retailers and 65,000 publishers were
analyzed to determine:
• What are the key shopping days for major retail
categories?
• How can affiliate marketers make the most out of a
short holiday season?
® 2014, 4 CJ, Inc. All rights reserved.

5. Holiday 2013 Insights
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6. HOLIDAY 2013 SEASON SUMMARY
Last year was the shortest shopping season in recent memory with only
26 days between Black Friday and Christmas Day. Anxious US retailers
wondered how six fewer shopping days would impact shopper behavior,
particularly online shopping behavior.
Would shopper begin shopping earlier?
CJ Affiliate sales analysis shows that the majority of shoppers tried to
make this time up in December versus starting earlier, waiting again for
Black Friday to kick off their shopping.
Sales began to migrate to offline sources beginning approximately 7
days before Christmas.
Cyber Monday was the clear sales winner during Holiday 2013 for most
retailers. Thanksgiving Day continues to grow as a major sales day,
experiencing 21% growth last year. (comScore)
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7. TOP CATEGORIES ON KEY HOLIDAY SALES DAYS
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7

8. AFFILIATE SALES BY DAY
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8

9. PUBLISHER SALES ON KEY HOLIDAY SALES DAYS
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9

10. Strategies for Holiday 2014
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11. SHORT SHOPPING SEASON….AGAIN
Late Thanksgiving--and five fewer shopping days--translates into a rushed time for shoppers. Holiday 2013 suggests the majority of shoppers try to
make this time up in December versus starting to shop earlier.
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
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NOVEMBER DECEMBER

12. MARK YOUR CALENDARS
The top 2014 holiday sales days as projected by CJ Affiliate
® 2014, 12 CJ, Inc. All rights reserved.
Holiday 2014
Key Shopping Days
November 27 (Thanksgiving Day)
November 28 (Black Friday)
November 30 (Cyber Sunday)
December 1 (Cyber Monday)
December 2
December 8 (Green Monday)
December 15
December 26

13. OPPORTUNITIES BEYOND CYBER MONDAY
Green Monday
Ultimately, online sales will be lost to affiliate
marketers unless advertisers and publishers are
aggressive on key shopping days like Green Monday
(December 8). Shipping deadlines for guaranteed
Christmas arrival will likely make Green Monday a
very popular – and safe – purchase day for shoppers.
Cyber Sunday
The day before Cyber Monday is emerging as a new
shopping day for always-connected consumers in
some categories, especially apparel and accessories
shoppers. There are more potential incremental gains
for advertisers on Cyber Sunday than any other day
based on consumer engagement rates.
® 2014, CJ, Inc. All rights reserved.
13
Mid-December
Holiday 2013 suggests a majority of shoppers try to make
up for the short holiday season in mid-December versus
starting to shop earlier (pre-Black Friday). Retailers should
engage shoppers mid-month with helpful offers and gift
ideas that motivate and help a shopper at this critical time.

14. STRATEGIES TO DRIVE MORE SALES
Build Excitement Early
While shoppers may not actively start shopping until
Black Friday, advertisers and publishers can gain
incremental holiday sales by positioning themselves in
shoppers’ minds with holiday branding on their sites
and in emails.
Site to Store
Advertisers still have the opportunity to integrate site
to store if they haven’t yet done so. Also, publishers
can promote Sears, Sears Outlet and Kmart site to
store offers to tap the growing interest in web to store
shopping.
® 2014, CJ, Inc. All rights reserved.
14
Gift Guides & Gift Cards
Last-minute guides promoted during the week of
December 16 could be well-received by shoppers
needing help streamlining their shopping efforts.
Promotions of gift cards during week of Dec 22 should
pay off.

15. MOBILE STRATEGIES
Last year’s mobile numbers during important holiday sales days demonstrate that m-commerce
strategies are critical to engaging shoppers—26% of sales on Black Friday 2013 were
transacted on either a smartphone or a tablet (Adobe Digital Index).
For publishers, this year it is again important to prepare for mobile shoppers with mobile-responsive
® 2014, CJ, Inc. All rights reserved.
sites. Advertisers will also need to consider the mobile experience for shoppers.
Becoming a CJ mobile-certified advertiser ensures proper mobile tracking, providing mobile
publishers with the confidence to promote their offers.

16. Select Daily Sales Trends
® 2014, CJ, Inc. All rights reserved.

17. CLOTHING/APPAREL
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Black Friday was the strongest sales day for
Clothing/Apparel advertisers in Holiday 2013.
Opportunity exists to push more on Cyber
Monday and Green Monday.

18. WOMEN’S
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A very strong category during Thanksgiving
Week last year. Target demographic engaged
on Cyber Sunday leading into Cyber Monday
sales.

19. MEN’S
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Men’s category experienced strong mid-
December sales (week of December 9). Note
the sales spikes on Christmas Day and
December 26.

20. CHILDREN’S
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Children’s category experienced strong sales on
Black Friday. Note the additional strong sales
on Cyber Sunday, December 13 and
Christmas Eve.

21. GIFTS
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Cyber Monday was top sales day for Gifts
category during Holiday 2013.
December 8 – 18 are strongest period.

22. TOYS
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Cyber Sunday and Cyber Monday were critical
days for this category in Holiday 2013.
December 16 appears to be last day online
shoppers feel comfortable ordering.

23. ACCESSORIES
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Cyber Monday was key date for this category
during Holiday 2013. Mid-December is also a
critical period for this category.

24. JEWELRY
Jewelry purchases were highest on Cyber
Monday, but also robust on Cyber Sunday.
Mid-December is the key period for this
category, but opportunity exists in early
December too.
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25. HANDBAGS
Black Friday 2013 was a solid day for
Handbags, but the real sales strength lies in
December. Note the mid-December peaks of
December 13 and December 24.
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26. SHOES
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Shoes more popular on Cyber Monday than
Black Friday, possibly due to promotion
strategies targeting that day. Category
advertisers could likely make stronger plays
on Thanksgiving Day and Green Monday.

27. COMPUTER & ELECTRONICS
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Daily sales ramp up during Thanksgiving Week
and peak for the season on Black Friday.
Shoppers remained engaged with this
category throughout December.

28. CONSUMER ELECTRONICS
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Black Friday and Cyber Monday are equally
important for this category. Note that Cyber
Sunday and December 3 are strong days, as
well.

29. ® 2014, 29 CJ, Inc. All rights reserved.
Shoppers were engaged with this category
beginning in mid-November. Cyber Monday
was top sales day but also note the strength
in December that tapers off as Christmas
nears (then picks up again post-Christmas.)
DEPARTMENT STORES/MALLS

30. MALLS
® 2014, 30 CJ, Inc. All rights reserved.
Black Friday was key date for this category
during Holiday 2013. Opportunity exists to tap
more shoppers on Cyber Sunday and Cyber
Monday.

31. HOME & GARDEN
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Sales in the Home & Garden category peaked
on Cyber Monday. Note the sales strength on
Thanksgiving Day, November 30 and
December 31.

32. KITCHEN
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Sales in the Kitchen category peaked on Cyber
Monday. Note the sales strength on Cyber
Sunday and early – to mid- December
overall.

33. COSMETICS
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Cyber Monday was the clear leader in sales
during Holiday 2013. Based on other
categories, opportunities exists here to grow
sales in early to mid-December.

34. ROI is in our DNA
CJ Affiliate by Conversant delivers unmatched insights to the world’s top brands. To learn more, visit us at
www.cj.com.
US Headquarters 530 East Montecito St., Santa Barbara, CA 93103 USA
Tel: 800-761-1072 | www.cj.com | sales@cj.com
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