Retailers are approaching now the big holiday shopping season. It starts with Thanksgiving and Black Friday, followed by Christmas. October, November, and December are busy shopping months for online and traditional retailers.
These days, most retailers have websites and many with e-commerce online stores. To promote the sale of products through e-commerce websites, retailers are gearing up marketing and advertising efforts to reach the maximum number of potential shoppers and consumers.
According to comScore, desktop-based retail e-commerce spending increased by 15% year-over-year on Black Friday, reaching $1.2 billion. But Thanksgiving Day sales rose by an even greater 21%, to $766 million, as comScore notes that it is now the fastest-growing online shopping day over the past 5 years.
Adobe Digital Index states that Thanksgiving online sales reached $1.06 billion, up 18% over last year, while Black Friday e-commerce spending hit a new record of $1.93 billion, up by more than 30% from last year.
Thanksgiving Shopping Statistics
The NRF survey results indicate that clothing and clothing accessories (57.5%) were the most popular items among Thanksgiving weekend shoppers, followed by electronics (37.7%), books, CDs, DVDs and video games (36.1%) and toys (34.5%).
Apparel and accessories have accounted for a leading 28% share of desktop-based retail e-commerce spending for the holiday season-to-date, says comScore, ahead of computer hardware (19%) and consumer electronics (7%).
5 Thanksgiving Marketing Strategies
1. Social Media Marketing
During the Thanksgiving and Black Friday’s shopping season, Social Media plays these days a big role. Consumers spend hours a day on social networks. Marketing on social networks can be setup with commerce-enabled functions, through content, paid ads and other strategies. Companies benefit from utilizing social media platforms on and prior Black Friday and Thanksgiving.
2. Search Engine Optimization
Search Engine Optimization campaigns should be ongoing for most retailers, especially online retailers. Websites with e-commerce should have SEO campaigns as their cornerstone of marketing online. During Thanksgiving season, Search is a main channel that consumers use to search for gift ideas, products, and places to buy. Over 80% of Internet usage by individuals starts with a search.
3. Paid Advertising
Paid Advertising is a quick way and method to gain exposure during Thanksgiving. Retailers can setup specific offers as ads and dictate the niche target market they want exposure too. Programs such as Google’s AdWords and Facebook or other social media channels can be utilized. Paid advertising is similar to leasing and often is a bidding type system. Cost per Click CPC, is often used in paid programs or flat fees.
4. Content Marketing
Content is a great method and strategy for marketing products during Thanksgiving sales season. Content is the creation, publication, and distribution of images, text (such as articles and blogging), and video. Video marketing is one of the fastest growing content marketing methods. It is also a very effective method. YouTube is one of the most popular websites in the world and second largest search engine. Companies should create content and specifically create offers and sales for Thanksgiving shopping season.
5. Conversion Optimization
For websites to convert visitors to shoppers, and loyal customers, websites have to be optimized to properly accomplish this. This process is called Conversion Optimization. Conversion optimization is when website areas are improved upon with call to action elements, pages are optimized for peak performance, Analytics are studying and adjustments are made. This is all done for the website to perform better and experience and increase in online purchases and sales.
Companies that wish to improve their sales during Thanksgiving shopping season can always work with experts. Marketing services and professionals can assist brands and retailers with all of the above marketing strategies. Marketing consulting services can be also utilized to gain more knowledge prior to allocating larger budgets.
