5 Changes to Expect This Holiday Season

1. What Your Business Should Know About the 2013 Changing Holiday Season Landscape and 10 Tips for Profiting From Those Changes. Jean L. Serio, CPCSocial Media Marketing Growth Strategistwww.getyourbuzzon.com

2. U.S. Retail Ecommerce Sales To Grow 15%+ During the 2013 Holiday Season. National Retail Federation Says In-Store Sales Up 3-5%. • Trend monitoring firm eMarketer revised its holiday sales projections upwards. Reporting it now expects "2013 U.S. retail ecommerce holiday season sales to grow about 15.1 percent to $61.8 billion, up from $53.7 billion in 2012". • Ecommerce platform provider Volusion predicts global retail ecommerce sales, for small and mid-sized businesses, will grow about 20%. • Shop.org, National Retail Federation’s digital division, expects online sales to grow between 9-12%. • Adobe Digital Index stats show: "Thanksgiving is the fastest-growing shopping day, and that's the biggest news this year. Bad News:Companies aren't prepared for the new ways in which shoppers will be buying.

3. 5 Changes to Expect This Holiday Season 1. 16% of U.S. Online Sales Will Come From Mobile Devices - Multi (Omni) Channel Shopping Mobile sales will reach $9.8 billion from Nov to Dec. 2013. A 16% share of the ecommerce market, says eMarketer. Tablet sales totaling $26 billion – predicted. 62.5% of all mobile-based ecommerce sales – topping 87%. Google Shopper Marketing Agency Council 4/13 figures show how consumers are using mobile devices to shop:* Shoppers who use mobile to shop buy more.* 44% of SmartPhone shoppers use their phone to find promos, discounts and offers.* 84% of SmartPhone shoppers use their phone to shop in- store.

4. 2. Don't wait for Black Friday to market - Consumers intend to spend less on the BF and the Cyber Monday weekend. Customer Satisfaction group CfI, in a new 2013 Holiday Retail Spending Report found "fewer than 25% of consumers plan to spend more than 1/2 of their total holiday budgets during the Black Friday/Cyber Monday period”. 61% saying they'll finish shopping by early December.Three-quarters of Canadians, recently polled by Deloitte Canada & Ernst and Young Canada, say "they plan to start their holiday shopping early this year, and will use the internet to check and compare prices before buying gifts". Says Sheri Petras, CEO of CFI Group, "since behavior is shifting, beyond traditional Black Friday spending, those who focus solely on BF centric campaigns will miss significant sales opportunities". Deloitte and Ernst & Young Canada, found shoppers expect to modestly increase holiday spending 2% to 3.5%.

5. 3. Amazon and Walmart started Cyber Deals Week * Deals.com says many large retailers, including Target and Toys R Us, intend to go along with the Cyber Deals Week also called National Deals Week. Adding new deals daily or several times a day.* While this should be good for retailers, unless commerce companies plan ahead, sales can be lost. * With 6 less selling days this holiday season, marketers are preparing higher impact marketing on available days.* As of 2010, Cyber Monday is celebrated globally with ecommerce sites, the world over, offering deals.

6. 4. Price Will Matter Even More This Holiday Season From all reports, the 2013 season will generally be positive. But eMarketer, Deal News and others show consumers planning to purchase based upon price. A July 2013 Google Consumer Survey found consumers aren't loyal to brands when it comes to shopping for gifts. 40% surveyed said they (specifically) looked for the 'best price'. Finding the best price is far easier. Making competition stiff. Consumers can check price comparison sites like Amazon, Google Shopper, Newegg and PriceGrabber, for instance. Google Insights says: “As our data shows, price is the main reason for shopping somewhere new, followed by better selection. Says market researcher, Marshal Cohn, "Frugality is still a big part of the consumer's lifestyle."

7. 5. Consumers Expect Free Shipping Google Insights Info: "The term “free shipping” surged last year as a search query, peaking on Cyber Monday. On mobile devices, it peaked on Black Friday, as in-store customers looked around for comparable deals online. One in five say free shipping will be the deciding factor on purchases this year, so use it to your advantage on the big in-store shopping days". Shop.org: A recent poll of retailers says "35% offer free shipping all year, the majority do not. Of retailers not offering free shipping year-round, 16.3% said they would begin the last week in October". MarketLive.com study: found 91% of online shoppers said they'd take advantage of free shipping offers. "Online shoppers have become quite savvy" says Ken Burke chairman of MarketLive. "They have come to expect free shipping.” Importantly, 31% said free shipping is an incentive that would prompt paying full price for an order. MarketLive discovered 88% of online shoppers have abandoned a shopping cart in 2013, primarily because of shipping costs. 54% abandoned carts after shipping costs made their total order more than anticipated.

8. Are You Targeting Different People at Different Times – Loyal, Steady, Flash Customers? First - it’s essential to know your audience. When you do, the holiday season becomes one of the best times to develop new, loyal customers. That said, according to a recent nanigans.com report: "Customers acquired the week before Thanksgiving and Christmas consistently yielded high return, both short-term & long-term, while those who shopped right around the holidays tended to be last-minute rush shoppers If you are seeking a bigger fish, set an enticing bait and wait; alternatively, if you see high volumes of smaller fish as your target, set lots of small bait but be prepared to act quickly. • Loyal customers: These customers performed consistently well even after six months and responded to ads placed in mid-November. • Steady shoppers – these customers brought in higher revenue after one month of viewing the ad and responded to ads placed in late October and early November. • 3. Flash shoppers – these customers reacted quickly to an ad and made purchases within one month but barely came back again or were easily distracted by other campaigns within a half-year period. They responded to ads displayed in late November and early December.” • Note: Info from 2012 Q4 nanigans.com ecommerce report

9. 10 Tips for Profiting This Holiday Season 1. Add holiday décor to your Website, Blog, Facebook and Fan Page.Adding seasonal and holiday graphics to your website, blog and social sites gives an extra boost in holiday spirit and can stimulate sales. Adding holiday themed graphics can have multiple benefits: • Letting fans/followers know your site is active and updated regularly • Reminding your audience the holiday is near and it's time to think about gift giving • Making the association your site is the go-to place for holiday gifts • Gets customers into the holiday spirit

10. 2. Leverage Social Media 3. Organize Emailings • Social Sites:Cut through the noise by regularly engaging on social sites. Post about the holidays, respond to fan comments, add colorful photos/graphics to your comments. Send fans/followers to articles and resources on your site and blog. Post infographics. Share on Facebook, Twitter, Printerest, etc. Add a Facebook Fan page, add holiday graphics and offers. • Emailings:Relationships matter – even more so during the holiday season. Do regular holiday email marketing. Make sure your email marketing is well synchronized with your social holiday marketing.* Create headlines which encourage email opens * Use a holiday header.* Have a good offering – make it clear – present product/service benefits.* Offer discounts, free shipping.* Use a social media widget (icon) to send them to your social networks.* Be sure your offerings match on your social sites.* Have a Call-To-Action – “Order today and…”* Never send holiday emails on Friday (unless immediately before a holiday or day after Thanksgiving.

11. 4. Offer Free Shipping 5. Allow consumers to make partial payments • Free Shipping: Aside from good pricing, consumers are looking for Free Shipping. A MarketLive.com study found 91% of online shoppers said they'd take advantage of free shipping offers. "Online shoppers have become quite savvy" says Ken Burke chairman of MarketLive. "They have come to expect free shipping.” Importantly, 31 percent said free shipping is an incentive that would prompt them to pay full price for an order. • Partial Payments:Big Box retailers primarily use a lay-away system during the holidays. It’s one of the top ways they create additional sales. However if you are selling products which consist of services, ebooks and consulting products, consider offering to divide payments into two or three smaller amounts. And watch sales rise.

12. 6. Present UpSells 7. Offer Bonuses for Purchase or a Free Gift • UpSells:Presenting an additional related product, or one which coordinates with the original product purchased, can quickly help add cash to your till. Statistics show once people are in the purchase mode, it’s much easierto upsell them to an additional product while in the process of purchasing an original item. Easier than at a later date. • Bonuses: Offering a bonuses, or series of bonuses which relate to the product or add to the value of the product, is also a great way to increase sales. • Free Gift with Purchase: Free Gifts with purchase are a great way to stimulate sales. Something 90% of consumers will take you up on.

13. 8. Optimize your Website for Holiday Shoppers – Add a ‘Gifts’ Section 9. Offer a ‘Buy 1 Get 1’ • Consider placing a ‘Gifts’ section:To your website and/or blog. This allows shoppers to find what they want fast. Add a holiday graphic at the top of the list/s to bring attention to the area. Place a link on the ‘Home’ page of your site to the page. Or create a small box with holiday graphics and a link to the proper page on your site. Sort products by type, price, offering a bestsellers list, be sure to list Bonuses included. Don’t forget to add a link on your Facebook page to the ‘Gifts’ section. • Buy 1 Get 1: This is a strategy used by a wide variety of companies from entrepreneurial to large. Not only does it encourage a customer to purchase, stats show they will purchase much more than first planned. And will often purchase products they hadn’t planned to.

14. 10. Encourage ‘Self Gifting’ – Have a ‘Didn’t Get What You Wanted’ Promotion After Christmas. • Many are in the market for things they don’t usually buy. Have a ‘Didn’t Get What You Wanted?’ Promotion after Christmas through New Years. Many people receive money for Christmas. And usually want to spend it quickly. Re-state your earlier offer, add a new bonus or freebie. • Fifty percent of consumers did at least some “self-gifting” over the 2012 holidays — and the gifts were good. Self-gifters spent an average of $139.92 according to ExactTarget’s Email Marketing Holiday Calendar infographic. Create a new or modied offer. Add a new resource, bonus or free gift. Offer free shipping. And a price guarantee.

15. A Few Last Tips…. • Not to alarm last-minute marketers, but the holiday promotions party has already started. The National Retail Federation says 40 percent of shoppers began picking gifts out before Halloween. • Regarding Email Marketing – Listrak's recent report shows the average online retailer mailed 5.3 emails between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday. Don’t wait a minute more, organize your emails now so they’re ready to go out on the Thanksgiving weekend. • "They're all racing to get an existing piece of the pie," says Patricia Norins, an adviser to American Express' "Small Business Saturday," a holiday shopping event. "There's only so much of the pie that is going to be served," so retailers want to "get out of the gate as soon as possible and get in front of consumers and capture their piece of the pie." • Remember cross marketing: Use mobile and tablet marketing along with social media marketing.

16. Get Your Complete Holiday Business and Step-by-Step Marketing Guide for Making the 2013 Season Festive, Fun and Easy for Customers to Buy and your Best Business Season Ever To reap great rewards, from this season, you must Start Now preparing for it. Since 'time is money', don't waste another minute - check out our new Holiday Business Bundle – including Step by Guides to help you & your business have the best holiday ever. Everything from social to biz action guides, to newsletters, recipes, articles for your customers and email list. And More.Your Holiday Biz and Marketing Bundle includes: • 61 Zero-Cost Strategies for Levering Top Social Networks to Market Your Biz, Create Sales, Build Your Brand & Visibility During the 2013 Holiday Season and Beyond • Your 2013 Holiday Goals & Action Checklist - A step-by-step plan to Guide You through the Season – From websites to mobile, SEO, Customer Service & More – all covered. • 4 Holiday Celebration Newsletters – Beautiful, professional graphics, professionally written – including festive decorating tips, holiday table setting, myths & legends of the season & more. Guaranteed your customers and email list will enjoy. • 10 Holiday Articles – new, professionally written – covering a variety of holiday topics • 30 Holiday Graphics– Colorful, professional graphics. From Thanksgiving to New Years • 20 Delicious Easy-Bake Holiday Cookie Recipes– including dozens of helpful baking tips • More Info: www.getyourbuzzon.com – Holiday Marketing & Biz Bundle link on top nav bar.