Surviving the Holidays: 5 Marketing Tips for Retailers

With so many reports out there talking about why retailers are going to be taking such a hit this year, I thought it might be worthwhile to focus on the positive. The down economy has opened up several opportunities for retailers to try out new and interesting ways of reaching their customers.  I wanted to share a few of these with you.

• Take Advantage of Better Targeting: Recent studies by National Retail Federation and Consumer Reports have shown that consumers are holding back on spending so far this year, so may be primed to take advantage of online deals through the holiday season. This means it’s time to double down on targeted email. Better targeting and segmentation means customers are getting introduced to the products they want – increasing click-throughs and conversions. Additionally, targeting helps marketers identify consumers who are sale conscious and those who are willing to buy at full price.
• Streamline Cross-Channel Marketing: A recent report by Taubman Centers, Inc. indicates that “almost two-in-three respondents (60%) plan to spend as much as they did in 2007, some (9%) plan to spend more on Black Friday.” Additionally, “more than one quarter of respondents (28%) said they plan to continue shopping on Saturday, and 42 percent said they’d be making purchases throughout the weekend. And if they see something that would be ‘just perfect’ for themselves, they’ll probably buy that too, say 73 percent.”  Many consumers will be out and about in the next few weeks, so now is the perfect time to make sure that your email messages resonate both online and through brick and mortar stores. The recent 72% increase in profits from Urban Outfitters and Anthropologie is a testament to the power of proper multi-channel marketing.  In fact, CEO Glen T. Senk, says that their typical customer “shops between the catalog, brick and mortar and the web absolutely seamlessly” and  “the penetration of direct-to-consumer business in total is up roughly 150 basis points and…we’re more profitable in our direct-to-consumer business than we are in our brick and mortar business.”
• Hit Up Men: While many stores have been one-uping each other with the “leaks” of their Black Friday deal circulars this week, one important demographic may not be as interested in those deals as previously thought. An Ipsos Public Affairs/Soundbite Communications report shows that “when it comes to coupons and deals, nearly 35 percent of men will leave money on the table, saying that they do not plan to look for deals more than they did last holiday shopping season. The survey found men do not pay attention to deals like women do, with women being much more likely than men to look for more deals and coupons prior to making a purchase this year (77 percent vs. 65 percent).
• Give Your Customers A Reason to Come Back: The same report by Ipsos Public Affairs/Soundbite Communications shows that “62% of respondents, which equates to almost 130 million Americans, plan to shop with particular retailers to take advantage of their loyalty programs, such as frequent shopper rewards, coupons or discounts.”Most customers would rather shop at a store where they feel like they are valued and loyalty programs are a great way to do this. “In fact, almost a quarter (23%) of respondents plans to do all or most of their holiday shopping where they can take advantage of these programs. Loyalty programs are particularly powerful with parents with children under 18 and adults under 55. Retailers have a chance to attract more shoppers this holiday season by promoting their loyalty programs.”
• Start an SMS Marketing Program: While text marketing is still a relatively new field, there have been many recent studies that have shown that it’s an incredibly powerful medium for not only getting your message across, but having your customers remember the message. Hipcricket put out survey results that showed “96 percent [of sms marketing recipients] remembered the promotion’s call-to-action and more than a third reported that the promotion made them more likely to buy the brand’s product/service. Attesting to the viral nature of mobile marketing, 37 percent told a friend about the message and 6 percent forwarded the promotion to a friend”.

So just as any financial advisor will tell you that a down market presents a great investment opportunity, I’m here to say that the current downturn represents a huge opportunity for retailers to increase revenue and gain market share by broadening their marketing portfolio.

Tags: Demographics, Economic Downturn, Multi-Channel Marketing, Targeted Email, targeted SMS

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 25th, 2008 at 3:37 pm and is filed under Customer Segmentation, Discounts and Offers, Economic Downturn, Email Marketing, Multi-Channel Marketing, Personalized Email, SMS Marketing, Targeted Advertising, Targeted Email. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.