eMarketer Webinar: What Retailers Need to Know About Online Holiday Shopping Behavior

Jeffrey Grau Principal Analyst S E P T E M B E R 8, 2 0 1 1 What Retailers Need to Know About Online Holiday Shopping Behavior Sponsored by:

Today’s agenda
Online holiday season outlook
What to expect from deal-seeking holiday shoppers
How holiday shoppers will use:
Mobile
Social
Traditional online channels

Ecommerce is largely insulated from macro-economic conditions

The US Department of Commerce released even more bullish estimates It reported ecommerce growth above 17% for the first half of 2011

Scot Wingo CEO ChannelAdvisor Eric Best CEO Mercent Chad White Research Director Responsys What is your outlook for the online holiday shopping season? “ We had a solid holiday last year, and we’re forecasting similar results in 2011. The more price-conscious consumers become, the more comparison shopping they’re going to be doing.” “ It was a banner year for online sales last holiday season. This year we can expect that online sales should be very robust again.” “ We predict 15% to 20% online sales growth. Ecommerce seems to be insulated from what is going on in the macro economy right now.”

The experts said online holiday sales will be at least as strong as they were in 2010 Online holiday sales grew 12% in 2010

Today’s agenda
Mobile
Social

Holiday season shoppers are versatile at using the web to find deals

Daily deal sites will be a popular holiday gift buying destination

The most popular daily deal categories will be dining and shopping

Consumers were purposeful in their shopping behavior 67% of consumers researched online prior to purchase 67%

Holiday shoppers timed their purchases around key promotional periods

Scot Wingo CEO ChannelAdvisor Eric Best CEO Mercent Ryan Gibson VP of marketing Rimm-Kaufman When will retailers start their holiday promotions? “ An increasing percentage of holiday shopping is happening on or before Cyber Monday because consumers are being trained to respond to promotional offers that are associated with those days.” “ Retailers have nowhere else to go but even earlier than Thanksgiving with their promotions. The Halloween to Thanksgiving period is going to be interesting to watch.” “ A lot of retailers are trying to capture consumers’ dollars up front in the season. To get that to happen, retailers are offering bigger incentives.”

More retailers have been sending email promotions in advance of Black Friday

Consumers are doing more of their Black Friday weekend buying online The web accounted for 33% of the average amount spent in 2010

More retailers are offering Cyber Monday promotions

Most Cyber Monday spending takes place on office PCs

The post-holiday period has become a peak shopping period. 45% of consumers shopped after Christmas in 2010, up from 41% in 2009.

Today’s agenda
Mobile
Social

Mobile is a fast-emerging holiday shopping channel Mobile’s contribution to retail sales rose from 3.4% to 6.5% in six months

Even though mobile purchases are on the rise, most smartphone owners used their device primarily for research last holiday season.

Scanner apps are becoming an increasingly popular mobile research tool

Jeremy Lockhorn VP, emerging media Razorfish David Hogue VP of experience design Fluid Raven Zachary President Small Society How is the iPad changing shopping behavior? “ The iPhone is what you use on the way to the coffee house; the iPad is what you use when you get there.” “ It presents the potential for a whole new social interaction. You can hand someone your iPad and say, ‘Hey take a look at this.’” “ The iPad opens up more possibilities for discovery, open-mindedness, impulse shopping.”

Tablet owners make purchases at rates higher than smartphone owners 24% 16%

Tablet owners not only purchase more than smartphone owners, but they also purchase from different categories.

Today’s agenda
Mobile
Social

Social commerce is still highly experimental for retailers Social visitors accounted for 1.2% of traffic and 1.6% of sales on retail sites

Last year, 57% of consumers conducted any one of a variety of holiday shopping activities on social networks 57%

Retail Facebook pages are influencing purchase decisions 23% of consumers said such pages are “influential” or “extremely influential”

Consumers follow retailers on Twitter mostly to learn about sales and promotions

Social network users share Cyber Monday deals with their friends

Consumers use social media to express their opinions about brands and products.

Today’s agenda
Mobile
Social

Search is the way online consumers begin looking for products

Retail emails help consumers discover deals

Expect more retailers to use retargeted display ads to catch holiday shoppers across the web who looked but did not buy on a recent visit to a retail site.

Mobile: Retailers who will not have a mobile-optimized site ready for the holidays can still audit their site to see what minor incremental improvements they can make to at least create a presentable user experience.
Mobile: A retailer’s tablet app should not just be an extension of its smartphone app. Consider differences in shopping behavior.
Social: Offer exclusive product deals and coupons on Facebook to increase fan counts and encourage sharing.
Social: Focus on relationship building by interacting with fans and offering engaging content.
Key Takeaways

Search: Adjust search term bids to changes in conversion rates, inventory levels and other variables.
Email: Keep it simple. If emails contain too many messages, recipients will lose sight of what the main value proposition is and how they should respond.
Retargeted display ads: Address the reasons why the purchase was not completed by showing similar products that vary by price, complexity, size, etc.
Real-time analysis: Be prepared to make split-second promotional and pricing decisions to take advantage of shopping behavior and competitor moves.
Key Takeaways

IBM Coremetrics 4th Annual Online Retail Holiday Readiness Report Industry Benchmark Analysis and Best Practice Guide
Online Retail Holiday Readiness Report is a 25+ page annual report highlighting:
Trends and analyses over the last 12 months compared to previous years
Predictions for the 2011 holiday online retail sales season
Best practices and recommendations for online retailers
Get your copy at: www.Coremetrics.com/Holiday2011

2011 Holiday Readiness Report Highlights
Trends in Online Shopping
Consumers are Spending More on More Items
Carting and Ordering Hit Record Highs
Single-Page ‘Bounce’ Visitors Remain High
Mobile Device Usage and Social Media Are Growing
Consumer Attention Continues to Decline
Best Practices
Focus on the customer lifecycle
Retarget Your Browsers and Abandoners
Capitalize on the Mobile Channel
Cultivate the Social Media Channel

Visit www.Coremetrics.com for the Benchmark reports and other resources to make this holiday season a success
Visit the IBM Coremetrics Resource Gallery to understand more about Online Marketing Optimization, including Mobile & Social best practices: www.CoremetricsVoice.com
US 2011 Online Retail Holiday Readiness Report: www.Coremetrics.com/Holiday2011
UK 2011 Online Retail Christmas Season Readiness Report: www.Coremetrics.co.uk

What Retailers Need to Know About Online Holiday Shopping Behavior Questions & Answers Registrants will receive an email tomorrow that includes a link to view the deck and webinar recording. For more discussion, please join us after the webinar on LinkedIn. Search for the eMarketer Group and click on Discussions. To learn about eMarketer Total Access please visit www.emarketer.com/products or contact us: (800) 405-0844 or [email_address] Twitter Hashtag: #eMwebinar Sponsored by : Presented by: Jeffrey Grau Principal Analyst, eMarketer, Inc.

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eMarketer Webinar: What Retailers Need to Know About Online Holiday Shopping Behavior

by eMarketer on Sep 08, 2011

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eMarketer Webinar: What Retailers Need to Know About Online Holiday Shopping Behavior Presentation Transcript