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Volume 1 - Issue 9 December 10, 2009 |
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Black Friday/Cyber Monday Help Drive Holiday Shopping Growth
 The annual 'Black Friday' event kicked off the holiday shopping extravaganza. As consumers rush to stores, both online and off, businesses continue their promotional sales events to grab maximum attention from the deal-hungry shoppers. With the advent and growing importance of online shopping amongst the U.S. population, 'Cyber Monday' has now extended this sales phenomenon beyond the weekend as individuals return to the workplace to find many gifts from the comfort of their desk chair. Google and Microsoft have implemented incentives of their own to help drive additional traffic through their search engines, where many buying decisions begin.
The Black Friday promotional efforts, through incentives and advertisements, by retailers nationwide have contributed the annual uptick in store visits. "The National Retail Federation (NRF) estimates that 195 million people visited stores and websites over the Black Friday holiday weekend, up from 172 million last year." ComScore, Inc., an online research firm, gathered e-commerce data throughout the month of November to identify trends both year-over-year, as well as during peak shopping days. The research depicts an incline in online spending throughout the duration of the month of 3% with a Black Friday spend jumping 11%. Still, despite only a five percent increase, Cyber Monday accrued the highest portion of online spend at roughly $887M.
*Corresponding days based on corresponding shopping days (November 2 thru December 1, 2008)
Google Checkout Deals and Bing Cashback shopping incentives launched by Google and Microsoft sought to drive more conversion-based traffic to their engines throughout the holiday shopping season. The rewards from purchasing through these sites range from $5-20 cash back, or a percentage discount on the price of the item. Some participating online retailers on both sites include TigerDirect.com, PETCO.com, RitzCamera.com, and BlueNile.com. Performance results of these sites have yet to be released as the shopping season continues; however, as price-sensitive shoppers turn to the internet for research and buying, expectations are high that there will be a positive impact. |
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Video Viewing is About 'Three Screens,' with Internet and Mobile Video Consumption On the Rise
Video mediums provide consumers the ability to retain a large amount of information both quickly and easily, whether it's through a conventional television or emerging technology. Conversely, video mediums provide businesses the ability to transmit a large amount of information, with slightly more effort (compilation and production time) but engage with consumers on a much grander scale. Nielsen Media Research, a deep-routed media research firm, recently released their 3rd quarter 2009 A2/M2 Three Screen Report outlining the findings from their usage studies.
Nielsen cites that television still comprises 99% of total U.S. video usage, but "DVR and online video continue to show considerable growth from the previous year: up 21.1% and 34.9%, respectively..." The report does not detail the video usage by website, but does offer annual change from 3Q2008 and demographic usage statistics helpful when generating new marketing strategies for targeted audiences. The growth in online video usage is largely due in part to three events:
· Easy access to broadband internet services
· Growth of TV/film streaming websites, such as Hulu.com and Netflix's Watch Instant access
· Social media video uploads and sharing popularity rising
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