Loyalty Marketing

St. Petersburg, Fla. –- HSN is offering a range of special events and deals for the 2014 holiday season. The interactive retailer will offer special “Black Friday” sale events on Nov. 7, 14 and 21, and also run its annual “Thanksgifting Weekend” event Thursday, Nov. 27 to Monday, Dec. 1 with special “Doorbuster” sale items.  

Minneapolis -- Target Corp. on Wednesday fired the first retail salvo of the holiday season, announcing that, for the first time ever, it is offering free shipping on all online purchases—no matter the amount—from Oct. 22 through Dec. 20. The free shipping offer comes early in the holiday shopping timeline, reflecting retailers’ concerns about what is expected to be a highly promotional season.  

Revolutionary has become the most overused term in the retail industry and the latest company to apply that description to its retail offering is ironically called Retailcommon.

 

Washington, D.C. –- More than half of U.S. consumers plan to make at least some of their holiday purchases online this year.

Any retail marketer today understands that the value of a loyalty program lies in the data it collects and the ability to target consumers based on that data. But in today’s omnichannel environment, consumers have expectations on of how retailers are using their information what that data is “buying” them -- expectations that retailers are struggling to meet.

Digital Challenges

New York -- Using smartphones and tablets to shop for the holidays has grown by 53% since 2012, and is expected to play a big role in decision making and actual purchases this year, according to the American Express Spending & Saver Tracker. The report finds the average American consumer is back to holiday spending at 2012 levels, and will plan to shell out $842 this year (vs. $1,260 in 2013 and $848 in 2012).   Consumers saying they will use their gadgets to:

Austin, Texas -- A majority of Americans would be comfortable divulging information about themselves anonymously to their favorite stores (60%) or a product brand (56%), and close to half would anonymously share personal data to an app (46%). According to a new national survey from Wearables.com and The Center for Generational Kinetics, some consumers will also share personal information in exchange for certain benefits.  

Chicago -- More than 80% of shoppers visit three or more channels to carry out CPG shopping, according to IRI’s new Times & Trend report, “Channel Migration: The Road to Growth Has Many Lanes”.