PORTLAND, Ore., Oct. 8, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- As retailers gear up for the holiday shopping season, a new Yesmail Interactive research report released today finds that many brands could miss out on critical fourth-quarter sales because they haven't aligned their marketing strategies with shifting consumer shopping habits. Yesmail Interactive is an Infogroup company that powers intelligent customer interactions.
Yesmail's report, released in time for holiday shopping, offers insight into how email deals, social media promotions, consumer purchase patterns and mobile device usage will influence shoppers this season- both online and in-store. By comparing the results of a consumer survey with an audit of the digital marketing campaigns of leading brands, the report concludes that marketers are missing opportunities to capitalize on consumer shopping preferences.
"Marketers can maximize revenue by capitalizing on how consumers are using email and social channels to find the best offers," said Michael Fisher, president of Yesmail Interactive. "This is especially important during the holiday season when targeted campaigns that use the right channels are even more crucial to meeting end-of-year sales projections."
To gauge consumer shopping preferences, Yesmail polled more than 500 consumers about their shopping habits, both during the holidays and in general. Using its proprietary Yesmail Market Intelligence tool, and its newest capabilities publically released on October 4th, the company also tracked and analyzed the digital marketing campaigns of 20 leading brands over a three-month period.
Yesmail then compared the purchase patterns of consumers reflected in the survey with the brands' campaigns to identify where marketers can improve their tactics this holiday season. The companies tracked included Amazon, Apple, Best Buy, Crate & Barrel, Dell, Game Stop, HH Gregg, JC Penney, Kohl's, Macy's, Nordstrom, Pottery Barn, Rue La La, Sears, Sprint, T-Mobile, Toys 'R' Us, Verizon, Walmart and Williams Sonoma.
Must-Knows this Holiday Season
The survey found that 7 out of 10 consumers will spend the same or more this holiday season than they did in 2011. That makes successful holiday campaigns even more essential for retailers who have seen sluggish sales so far this year.
However, Yesmail's report reveals that many marketers have not refined their strategies to take advantage of the latest consumer shopping trends:
- More than 41 percent of mobile device owners have made an online or in-store purchase as a direct result of an email promotion viewed on their device, yet, of the 20 brands Yesmail analyzed, one-third of those emails linked to web pages that were not mobile-optimized.
- Only 8 percent of Facebook campaigns and 4 percent of Twitter campaigns deployed focused on money-saving promotions such as discounts and free shipping, although the survey showed that social media promotions drove 34 percent of shoppers to make a purchase.
- Almost 40 percent of online shoppers prefer to make purchases between 6 and 10 pm, but only 5 percent of email campaigns were deployed during this peak time.
- Almost 60 percent of consumers say they prefer to interact with brands on social media between 6 pm and 2 am, but more than 60 percent of Facebook, Twitter and Google+ campaigns are deployed between 10 am and 6 pm Central Time.
Other Implications for Holiday Shopping
The Yesmail consumer shopping survey includes several other findings that have implications for marketers this holiday season:
- Email promotions, such as discounts and free shipping, are strong purchasing drivers, with 80 percent of online shoppers and 71 percent of in-store shoppers saying email offers influence their decision to buy.
- Sixty-two percent of consumers say they have used a mobile device to compare web prices to store prices while shopping in person.
- Almost 80 percent of in-store shoppers prefer to make purchases on the weekend, compared to only 31 percent of online shoppers. When shopping online, almost half of consumers prefer making purchases Monday through Wednesday.
- One-fifth of consumers say they plan to begin holiday shopping at least three months before the holidays begin, which means retailers should consider starting their marketing campaigns well before the holidays approach.
To view the full Yesmail report, "Consumer Online Behavior Report: Developing Informed Digital Marketing Strategies for Holiday Success," please visit www.yesmail.com/surveyreport.
About Yesmail Interactive
We power intelligent customer interactions. We give you the insights to recognize and understand your customer to deliver contextually relevant digital communications- while respecting their preferences and privacy. We help marketers evolve their customer relationships through intelligent interactions via technology, insights and services in a near real time multi-channel environment. We help you compete in the age of the customer. For more information, visit www.yesmail.com.
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About Yesmail Market Intelligence
Yesmail Market Intelligence provides real-time, in-depth competitive data across multiple digital channels and industries. The tool feeds real-time data from four digital channel feeds directly into one user-friendly dashboard, providing a sneak peek into competitor activity and enabling marketers to evaluate industry market trends and best practices. By helping marketers refine, adjust or completely redefine their multichannel strategy, Yesmail Market Intelligence is one of the most sophisticated tools for improving marketing efficiency and ROI.
About Infogroup
Infogroup helps companies increase sales and customer loyalty through its high-value data and innovative multi-channel digital and offline marketing solutions. Infogroup enables its clients – from local businesses to Fortune 100 companies – to target, connect with and engage their most valuable audiences. With cutting edge technology and analytics bolstered by our proprietary, real-time Data Axle ™ of contextually relevant information on more than 230 million individuals and 24 million businesses, Infogroup delivers the complete spectrum of value added data, direct and digital marketing solutions. For more information, please visit www.infogroup.com.
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