Holiday Selling
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Conversion
9 Holiday Selling Tips to Pandemic-driven Consumers
August 23, 2020 • Pamela Hazelton
The holiday 2020 shopping season will be unique. Pandemic-driven concerns of safety and economic uncertainty will prompt shoppers to look for both functional and entertaining gifts at competitive prices. Here are some tips for ecommerce merchants to gear up now.
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Email Marketing
2020 Holiday Email Marketing Starts Early
August 18, 2020 • Carolyn Nye
With the fluid retail environment surrounding Covid-19, protocols and expectations change daily. According to Coresight Research, a consulting firm, 23 percent of U.S. consumers plan to start 2020 holiday shopping earlier than in prior years. Ecommerce merchants should plan holiday marketing now.
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Business
Holiday Selling without the Crowds
August 9, 2020 • Armando Roggio
Pandemic-induced social distancing, reduced hours of operation, and even continued lockdowns and closures could dramatically change Christmas shopping behaviors in 2020, requiring retailers to find new ways to serve holiday shoppers and generate sales.
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Business
Will the Pandemic Impact Christmas 2020 Ecommerce Sales?
June 21, 2020 • Armando Roggio
The coronavirus pandemic that shuttered much of the worldwide economy in the first half of this year may yet impact Christmas 2020. In this post, I'll address a few coronavirus-related scenarios and offer suggestions for how ecommerce merchants can assess the potential impact on their company's holiday sales.
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Finance
2019 Holiday Sales Wrap-up
January 16, 2020 • Marcia Kaplan
The 2019 holiday shopping season exhibited mixed results, with online revenues growing substantially but brick-and-mortar sales showing meager or negative growth. The entire holiday season — November 1 through December 31 — saw a modest total increase in overall revenues.
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Email Marketing
5 Clever Email Marketing Tactics for Holiday Conversions
December 16, 2019 • Carolyn Nye
I've received many holiday email marketing messages since the busy Black Friday to Cyber Monday weekend. In this post, I'll share five that are especially clever.
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Conversion
‘Tis the Time to Capture Sales from Procrastinators
December 9, 2019 • Pamela Hazelton
Procrastinators prefer to buy several gifts in one shopping session. Sites that sell a variety of items will fare better, though stores that cater to a niche market may also realize great success. Follow these tips to ensure your business appeals to those late holiday shoppers.
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Analytics & Data
7 Ways to Analyze Black Friday, Cyber Monday Sales
December 5, 2019 • Anna Kayfitz
Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales are complete. Marketers should scrutinize the results for insights on future promotions. There are multiple approaches. In this post, I'll review seven ways to analyze the results from Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
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Finance
Sales Report: 2019 Thanksgiving Day, Black Friday, Cyber Monday
December 4, 2019 • Marcia Kaplan
Adverse weather conditions in many regions and the ease of ordering via mobile devices contributed to record-setting U.S. digital sales for the 2019 Thanksgiving weekend. This is my fifth annual “Sales Report” for Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday.
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Conversion
Mid-market Merchants Lag on Holiday Mobile Sales
December 3, 2019 • Charles Nicholls
Several shopping trends are already emerging from this year’s holiday season. The big story is that U.S. ecommerce sales on mobile are up by a whopping 50 percent. The bulk of the increase has gone to the largest merchants. Mid-market merchants have struggled on mobile.
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Product Pages
10 Last-minute Strategies to Capture Holiday Revenue
November 29, 2019 • Pamela Hazelton
Gearing up for the post-Thanksgiving holiday selling season is never easy. It takes time and planning. Here are some last-minute strategies that may help.
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Analytics & Data
Predicting Profits from Black Friday Promotions
November 22, 2019 • Anna Kayfitz
The Black Friday weekend is near. Many merchants will lower prices, add promotions, and compete in one of the biggest retail days of the year. By analyzing prior year results, merchants can estimate current-year sales and profits and the impact of promotions.
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Product Pages
Organization Is Key for Holiday Gift Guides
November 8, 2019 • Pamela Hazelton
Is your store’s gift guide ready for Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday? Gift guides can be as simple as listings of products that have something in common, such as subject, category, or price.
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Email Marketing
Email Marketing: How to Stand Out on Black Friday, Cyber Monday
October 22, 2019 • Carolyn Nye
The upcoming Black Friday to Cyber Monday weekend will likely generate record amounts of revenue for ecommerce retailers. It will also produce a record number of marketing emails. In this post, I'll offer tips to help your holiday emails stand out from the crowd to drive meaningful revenue.
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Marketing & Advertising
Try a Dwindling Discount for Black Friday Ecommerce Sales
October 14, 2019 • Armando Roggio
A dwindling discount that starts high and diminishes every few hours from Thanksgiving through Black Friday can create urgency and drive ecommerce sales.
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Social Media
An Ecommerce Social Media Plan for the Holidays
September 19, 2019 • Armando Roggio
Social media posts can play an important role in a retailer's holiday promotions by engaging, informing, and encouraging potential shoppers. Social media is typically most effective when marketers plan and schedule well in advance. For your company's holiday social media campaigns, consider the following questions.
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Email Marketing
8 Conversion Boosters for Holiday Email Marketing
September 17, 2019 • Carolyn Nye
Now is the time to plan holiday email marketing. For most ecommerce merchants, email is crucial for generating traffic and sales. What follows are eight tips to get the most from your holiday email marketing efforts.
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Customer Retention
6 Customer Retention Ideas for the Holidays
September 16, 2019 • Armando Roggio
The holiday shopping season from October to December is a boom time for most retailers. Sales are up. New customers are plentiful. What follows are six ideas to retain holiday shoppers after the busy season.
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Business
3 Predictions for the 2019 Holiday Shopping Season
August 29, 2019 • Armando Roggio
Many trends will emerge from the 2019 Christmas shopping season, but I believe three will be prominent. First, click-and-collect may encourage shoppers to wait for last-minute deals and convenience. Second, mobile commerce will come into its own. And third, Amazon will account for nearly half of all online holiday sales in 2019.
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Amazon & Marketplaces
Amazon Prime Day 2019 Breaks Records; Other Merchants Benefit
July 19, 2019 • Marcia Kaplan
While Amazon does not provide sales data for Prime Day, it did state that during the 48-hour 2019 event on July 15 and 16, sales surpassed the 2018 Black Friday and Cyber Monday revenues combined.
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Amazon & Marketplaces
4 Steps to Prepare for Holiday Sales on Amazon
July 11, 2019 • Phil Masiello
Selling on the Amazon Marketplace is a huge opportunity, especially for brands. The all-important holiday selling season on Amazon begins in early November. Start preparing now with the following four steps.
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Finance
Ecommerce Briefs: Holiday Sales, Retail Chains, 2019 Predictions
January 17, 2019 • Marcia Kaplan
“Ecommerce Briefs” is an occasional series wherein I review news and developments that impact online merchants. In this installment, I’ll address final holiday sales figures, a change in brick-and-mortar location trends, and 2019 predictions.
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Finance
2018 Holiday Sales Wrap-up
January 6, 2019 • Marcia Kaplan
Consumers happily opened their wallets in the 2018 holiday season, resulting in a five percent increase in overall spending — online and brick-and-mortar. Online spending alone grew by 19.1 percent compared to 2017 and contributed over 13 percent to total holiday sales.
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Business > Merchant Voice
Black Friday bargains? Not from my business
December 18, 2018 • Elizabeth Hollingsworth
Australian consumers have long been aware of U.S. bargains to be had around Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Australian retailers have started to run their own promotions to compete. But I won’t be one of them. Here’s why.
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Marketing & Advertising > Merchant Voice
What to do now for 2019 holiday sales
December 4, 2018 • Richard Stubbings
Most ecommerce retailers are now fulfilling the holiday order rush. The vast majority of merchants depend on sales in November and December. It can be the difference between a good year ...
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Finance
Sales Report: 2018 Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Cyber Monday
November 28, 2018 • Marcia Kaplan
Consumers embraced 2018 online holiday shopping with gusto starting on Thanksgiving Day and culminating on Cyber Monday, which became the highest U.S. ecommerce sales day in history with $7.9 billion in revenue. Thanksgiving Day, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday all exhibited healthy year-over-year sales growth.
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Customer Retention
10 Holiday-selling Tips to Boost January Revenue
November 26, 2018 • Pamela Hazelton
While you are busy handling lots of holiday orders, take a few minutes to analyze your online store to increase the chance of getting post-holiday sales. Here are 10 tips to enter 2019 stronger than ever.
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Content Marketing
5 Content Marketing Ideas for December 2018
November 5, 2018 • Armando Roggio
Connect with potential customers in December 2018 with humor, a history of eggnog, and holiday happenings. What follows are five content marketing ideas your business can use for December 2018.
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Marketing & Advertising
Holiday Social Media Tips for Fashion, Lifestyle Merchants
November 2, 2018 • Viktoria Kanevsky
To entice holiday shoppers to come to a smaller store instead of, say, a leading brand, go the extra mile — from product selection to customer service to unique marketing, including social media campaigns. Organize social media holiday campaigns by channels, such as Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and Pinterest.
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Shipping & Fulfillment
7 Tried-and-true Free Shipping Promotions to Drive Holiday Sales
November 1, 2018 • Armando Roggio
A free shipping offer is a powerful ecommerce promotion. It can boost conversion rates and increase average order values. Like other forms of advertising and promotion, free shipping is an expense.