Marketing During the Holidays – By Jenn Deuterman

It’s that time of the year. Whether you are an early shopper or a last minute shopper like I am, companies are making their hardest push to make sure that you get the best deals with their products! I mean who wouldn’t want more loyal customers?! When looking at trends for marketing during the holidays, you may have noticed that the holiday campaigns this year started earlier.

Kmart shocked consumers by starting their holiday advertising September 9th with their Gingerbread campaign.  And most retailers went right from Halloween to Christmas promotions.  Many retailers blame the unusual 2013 holiday calendar for the early release of their holiday campaigns, this year there are less shopping days between Black Friday and Christmas.  In a survey done by Experian Marketing Services 49% of retailers said they had planned to launch their holiday campaigns before Halloween.

New this year… a lot of stores were open on Thanksgiving. Kmart, Walmart, Toys R Us, JCPenney and Old Navy to just name a few have announced that they will be open on Thanksgiving Day. They named it “Grey Thursday.” Some stores didn’t budge when it came to opening on Thanksgiving Day, probably thinking that they wouldn’t get any business, but to their surprise, a LOT of people took advantage of the special shopping day! (Especially if marketers made sure to offer special deals that day!) it makes you wonder if “Black Friday” would have been crazier if people didn’t get a head start on Thursday!

Store layaways are becoming a big push when it comes to marketing for stores. Now-a-days budgets are tight and people are saving where they can. Retailers are starting to realize that they need to do something to drive consumer spending into their stores, so they re-launched their layaway programs. Retailers participating in this marketing tactic include Sears, Kmart, Toys R Us, TJ Maxx, Marshalls and Burlington Coat Factory.

Online retailers are ruthless too! We all know that “Cyber Monday” is the Monday after Thanksgiving. I feel like every Monday I get an email with another “Cyber Monday” subject line. Or a message saying they extended the sale days!  Research and studies have shown that more purchases will be made online this year than any other previous year. They’ve geared up with tools and better merchandising that will make it easier for you to buy and leave you feeling like you got the best value. Every year online retailers dig a little deeper into their profit margins in order to gain your business. A few of these strategies and tactics include:

Timing
This may be the first year that Cyber Monday loses its value. Many online retailers will be pushing sales out on Thanksgiving Day and continuing through Cyber Monday in hopes of capturing consumers before they hit the stores on Black Friday.

Free shipping or deep discounted shipping
​Online retailers have started to realize that 58% of consumers will abandon their online shopping carts because of the price of shipping. This has caused many etailers to offer free shipping or deep discounts on shipping. Walmart announced that they will be doing free shipping during the holiday season, this has set the bar for online stores hoping to capture holiday sales and many are struggling with coming up with ways to compete.

Increase in email marketing campaigns.
As a consumer you could see an increase of 15% – 20% in email promotional campaigns during the holidays.

It’s apparent that retailers want you to spend, especially with them.  And we are ALL guilty for falling into their marketing! Look back and think of where you went shopping and why you went there. Did you see an ad? Did you get an email? Word of mouth? Whatever it is, it worked and it is what keeps the economy going, because more business = more revenue for stores, and more revenue for stores = more job openings and more job openings = more opportunities for the unemployed and those looking to switch careers! I hope that everyone has enjoyed their holiday shopping no matter what holiday you celebrate. Just make sure to take the time to enjoy the reason why we do all of this! 

Jenn

Jennifer Deuterman is the Marketing Manager for the Department of Parks and Recreation. She can be reached at 703.335.8872 x3143 or via email at j.deuterman@manassasparkva.gov

Community Matters is a blog created by the City of Manassas Park Department of Parks and Recreation. The blog features program updates, announcements of new services, special event notices, or information of general interest.

Source: About.com