The online holiday shopping season has already begun according to the IRI Holiday Forecast. With only a month and a half until Christmas, and less than three weeks until Black Friday, most people have already started their holiday shopping, so you should be busy with holiday promotions for your business.
Consider the predicted 2009 shopping trends when planning your promotions and you’ll be able to create more effective marketing campaigns. For example, shoppers this holiday season are anxious to take advantage of discounts, so look for items or services that you can afford to offer steep discounts on and promote them heavily.
Many shoppers report that they plan to be more frugal with their shopping this year and you can cater to these customers by offering free shipping or featuring a special deals section within your store or website.
Another trend is “back to basics” which has been beneficial to the craft and sewing market. Take advantage by offering free classes that teach customers how to make homemade gifts using your products, or focus on offering practical, budget-minded gifts.
Social shopping is rapidly becoming more popular with many mainstream companies promoting their products on Twitter and Facebook. If you haven’t already, you should consider creating accounts and get started on growing a member base of fans that will love to hear about your promotions.
Don’t forget Cyber Monday if you have a website, Etsy store, or some type of online presence. Shop.org reports that Mondays in December 2008 were the highest grossing online sale days of the season for many retailers, with December 1st (Cyber Monday) being the highest grossing day for half of the retailers surveyed. This year Cyber Monday falls on November 30th – make sure you’ve got some great deals ready on your site!
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