Digital Marketing

By Christopher Birkholm    As the official kick-off of the holiday season approaches, your core online holiday campaigns are all wrapped up and ready for holiday shoppers. This year, it is expected that online consumer spending will rise 16%  over last year to approximately $60 billion, according to the comScore forecast. Desktop commerce is expected to jump nearly 14% while mobile commerce could see an increase of nearly 25%.  

When Macy's kicks off the holiday shopping season with its traditional parade on Thanksgiving Day, the retailer will also be deploying social media to complement its holiday push.

The company earlier this year was one of the first retailers to launch Facebook video ads. On Thursday evening, Macy’s will roll out its next round of video ads, this time to coincide with its Black Friday weekend campaign.

Shopping is going to get a little bit easier for travelers rushing through the Toronto airport this holiday season thanks to Mattel and Walmart Canada.

The retailer and the toy supplier have teamed up to install a Virtual Toy Store at Toronto Pearson International Airport.

The installation features three LCD screens that consumers can personalize and control via a mobile device to browse and shop brands such as Barbie, Hot Wheels, Fisher-Price, Thomas & Friends, Mega Bloks, and Monster High.

AUSTIN, Texas - Office Depot is currently utilizing a new location-based mobile marketing app, Shazom In-Store, in all of its Office Depot and OfficeMax retail store locations throughout the country. The solution combines Shazam, one of the world’s most popular apps, with proprietary technology from Mood Media.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Starting this month, social media users and others can send each other beers, cocktails and food items as gifts via a growing number of gift card options and features from Applebee’s Neighborhood Grill & Bar.  The chain has re-designed its gift card experience for both senders and receivers of gift cards that are redeemable at nearly 2,000 Applebee’s locations across the country.

Austin, Texas - Three in four Americans have made an impulse purchase. According to a new CreditCards.com report, nearly 90% of millennials said they had made an impulse purchase, compared to just 56% of seniors. And in an interesting finding,  men were nearly three times more likely than women to impulse buy while “intoxicated,” while women were twice as likely as men to impulse buy while “sad.”   The most common emotions at the time of purchase? “Excited” and “bored.”

New York - Forty-one percent of consumers plan to head to the stores on Black Friday,18% plan to shop in a physical store on Thanksgiving, and 32% of consumers will hit the stores on the following Saturday and/or Sunday, according to new data from the International Council of Shopping Centers. More than one-third (36%) of consumers plan to go to a physical store on Cyber Monday.

Younger shoppers make up the demographic group most likely to visit physical stores Thanksgiving weekend, but retailers had better be ready to offer the digital natives an ominchannel experience, according to new research from a leading retail trade group.  

By Jason Becker, RICS Software   Retailers – take a step back from Black Friday weekend this year.    I’m not suggesting you shouldn’t move forward with your promotions and sales. Everyone knows that Black Friday weekend can be one of the most profitable times of the year for retailers. But relying too much on this crazy weekend of shopping to generate holiday season profits is a big mistake.