The holiday season is quickly
approaching – an exciting time for B2B and B2C companies alike. Consumers shop for gadgets and gifts, while businesses buy new products and wrap up budgets for the following year. All companies need to think about how to make lovable marketing that will earn them business in this high volume, high stakes season. This SlideShare will dive into important stats from the past couple of seasons to help you take advantage of the top marketing trends that successful businesses are using. Happy Holidays!

The 2013 State of Online
Holiday Shopping

The number of online shoppers
is expected to grow from 167 million in 2012 to 192 million in 2016 SOURCE: FORRESTER RESEARCH

47% of consumers say that
the internet is their favorite shopping destination SOURCE: DELOITTE

49% of marketers have created
and launched a holiday campaign before Halloween this year SOURCE: STEELHOUSE

In 2012, 129 million consumers
shopped online on Cyber Monday SOURCE: EXPERIAN

3 in 5 retailers dedicated
Over 20% of their total 2012 online marketing budgets to holiday efforts SOURCE: SHOP.ORG

34% of shoppers plan to
shop online and in-store equally this holiday season SOURCE: THOMSON REUTERS

SOURCE: IPSOS MEDIACT/GOOGLE

Takeaway: Shoppers are going online
at an increasing rate to find the right products and services for them. All the while, businesses are taking advantage of this growing trend by increasing budgets for Q4 and making holiday marketing a priority. Take advantage of this important time of year and consider increasing your marketing focus during the holiday months. But what’s the best way to attract new business during the holidays? Learn what channels and tools other marketers are using in the next sections.

Mobile & Search

This year, 66% of tablet
owners will use their tablets to make holiday purchases SOURCE: SHOP.ORG

76% of smartphone owners will
use their devices to research & make holiday purchases SOURCE: NATIONAL GOOGLE 2013 HOLIDAY SHOPPING INTENTIONS STUDY

SOURCE: IPSOS MEDIACT/GOOGLE

74% of shoppers search online
to get ideas for their holiday wish lists SOURCE: CATALOG SPREE

82% of retailers are making
investments in mobile technology this holiday season SOURCE: INTERNET RETAILER

84% of marketers use mobile-optimized
websites SOURCE: EXPERIAN

SOURCE: SHOP.ORG

77% of retailers are enhancing
the search capabilities of their website this season SOURCE: INTERNET RETAILE

Over 25% of retailers will
make significant use of smartphone & tablet paid search campaigns SOURCE: SHOP.ORG

55% of retailers are using
search marketing to persuade customers to snatch up in-store deals SOURCE: SHOP.ORG

Takeaway: Be prepared to have
all of your web content just as accessible on a tablet or iPhone as it is on a computer. How do your emails look on a smart phone? Can people access your coupons via their iPads? Are email buttons clickable and web content easy to find? Don’t miss out on an opportunity to gain new customers because they couldn’t consume your marketing while on-thego! Mobile content consumption is growing rapidly, and being unprepared could cause your marketing to take a big hit.

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Email

49% of all emails are
opened and read on a mobile device SOURCE: YESMAIL INTERACTIVE

1/3 yet … of top
ecommerce brand emails linked to a non-mobile optimized landing page SOURCE: YESMAIL INTERACTIVE

80% of online shoppers and
71% of in-store shoppers say email offers influence them to buy SOURCE: YESMAIL INTERACTIVE

55% of brands use email
as their #1 holiday marketing channel SOURCE: ACCENTURE

44% of shoppers learned about
the best Cyber Monday deals through retailers’ emails in 2012 SOURCE: BIZRATE INSIGHTS

74% of holiday retailers are
using email to get customers to cash in on deals SOURCE: SHOP.ORG

56% of businesses plan to
increase their investment in email marketing this year SOURCE: SEARCH ENGINE PEOPLE

93% of those marketers plan
to increase or maintain the same level of email investment SOURCE: EXPERIAN

Takeaway: Email is a powerful
tool to offer your potential customers valuable information and offers directly. In fact, consumers have grown to expect it! Use email to send enjoyable holiday content, product coupons, or last minute special deals to your network. But don’t abuse the technology – be smart about what you send. Making marketing people love is crucial year-round, but especially important during the holidays.

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Social
Media

64% of shoppers have bought
a product because of something they’ve seen on Twitter SOURCE: CMO.COM

30% of Twitter users tweet
about holiday shopping before October SOURCE: CMO.COM

64.8% of consumers will turn
to social media sites to find the perfect gift SOURCE: CROWDTAP

24.8% of consumers trust peer
recommendations on Facebook and Twitter when deciding to purchase a holiday gift SHOP.ORG That’s more than banner ads, magazine ads, TV commercials combined SOURCE: CROWDTAP

On Pinterest, revenue per visit
is up by 150% SOURCE: CMO.COM

67% of consumers would be
likely to share a digital coupon on Facebook during the holidays 63.4% would be likely to share a link to a holiday contest SOURCE: CROWDTAP

49% of marketers plan to
include social sharing tools & buttons from their website (up from 36% in 2012) SOURCE: EXPERIAN

53.9% of shoppers will use
social media while shopping in-store, and 38.4% will tweet about promotional offers, deals, and finds SOURCE: CROWDTAP

SOURCES: CMO.COM AND GOOGLE 2013
HOLIDAY SHOPPER INTENTIONS STUDY

Takeaway: People and businesses are
using social tools for product suggestions and reviews, both from their friends and from the vendors themselves. That means you need to share your best content on social, as well as have your content easy to share by others. Also, consider how you can use social channels to collect and promote reviews and ratings from your best customers. Finally, have a visual product? You never know, Pinterest may become your best performing channel!

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39% of shoppers hear about
the best holiday deals by visiting a company’s website directly SOURCE: MONETATE

41% of consumers visited a
retailer’s site directly to learn more about Cyber Monday deals in 2012 SOURCE: BIZRATE INSIGHTS

92% of holiday shoppers will
go online to research and/or purchase gifts this season SOURCE: CMO.COM

39% of marketers plan to
incorporate ratings & reviews into their customers’ holiday shopping experience SOURCE: EXPERIAN

Compared to 2012, consumers are
viewing an average of 35% more pages on retail websites SOURCE: INTERNET RETAILER

SOURCE: SHOP.ORG

RCE: INTERNET RETAILER & EXPERIAN

Nearly 40% of retailers will
use free shipping offers on their website to entice customers to shop online this holiday season SOURCE: STEELHOUSE

yet, less than 1/2 of
retailers will use homepage messaging to get the word out about in-store offers SOURCE: SHOP.ORG

But for the 2012 season,
marketers used fewer site-wide promotions in favor of Personalized Discounts SOURCE: SHOP.ORG

Online holiday sales will reach
$82 billion in 2013, up 15% over 2012 SOURCE: NATIONAL RETAIL FOUNDATION

Takeaway: Don’t forget the value
of a true-blue, user-friendly website. Use your homepage to promote your best performing marketing materials, whether it be coupons, a specific CTA, or a piece of content. Use that real estate to your advantage. Another key piece of your website is, of course, your blog! Are you creating blog content that tees up the promotion of your products and services? You should! And of course, just like we mentioned before, make sure you have a mobile version of your websites so your best customers can research your products from anywhere.

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Checklist: Mobile & Search q
Make sure your website is mobile-optimized q Check that your emails are easy to read and buttons are clickable on a mobile phone q Consider creating a mobile app to support your marketing q Check that your product pages come up in search, or optimize those pages if they don’t Plan ahead with the On-Page SEO Template: Free Download

Checklist: Email q Plan your
holiday email calendar q Decide what offers you will send via email, like coupons or special deals q Make sure your emails link to an optimized, mobile-friendly page on your website q Have a plan and tool in place to measure your emails effectiveness Craft the perfect email with the Anatomy of a Five-Star Email: Free Download

Checklist: Social q Share your
best content throughout your social accounts q Have a plan to monitor social engagement while taking any holiday vacation q Showcase customer reviews via social channels q Consider experimenting with product visuals on Pinterest q Make sure all your content and product info is easy to share Use visuals on social media with 250 Holiday Stock Photos: Free Download

Checklist: Website & Blog q
Use some of your homepage real-estate to promote your best offers and CTAs q Keep visitors up-to-date with deals on your website q Use your blog to write great content that tees up product promotion q Work with guest bloggers for third party reviews Create remarkable content with 5 Blog Post Templates: Free Download

Happy Holidays! from your friends
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