Marketing Tactics

By Charles Nicholls, [email protected]

So what can you do during the crazy holiday season to reduce shopping cart abandonment? We thought we’d put together a holiday season checklist to help you keep your customers in the shopping cart this Christmas.

Before thinking about solutions to your shopping cart abandonment problem, it’s useful to look at the reasons why customers abandon. Based on this Forrester study, you can group the top five reasons into:

Miami -- Retailers are continuing to invest in sustainability initiatives, even during tough economic times, according to a new report by RSR Research entitled "Lean and Green: Sustainable Practices Are Changing Retail, Benchmark 2010.”

New York City -- New York & Co. said Thursday that net income for the quarter ended Oct. 30 was $1.9 million, compared with a per-share loss 11 cents in the year-ago period.

Net sales were $238.2 million in the quarter, up from $227.9 million a year earlier. Same-store sales rose 3.6%.

New York & Co. currently operates 579 stores in 43 states.

Washington, D.C. -- A survey released Thursday by the National Retail Federation and conducted by BIGresearch found that up to 138 million people plan to shop Black Friday weekend (Friday, Saturday and Sunday), surpassing the 134 million who planned to do so last year.

According to the NRF 2010 Holiday Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey, which polled 8,778 consumers, approximately 60 million people say they will definitely hit the stores while another 78 million are waiting to see if the bargains are worth braving the cold and the crowds.

Pittsburgh -- American Eagle Outfitters reported Thursday that net income for the quarter ended Oct. 30 was $33 million, compared with $59.2 million in the year-ago period. The drop was largely a result of investment losses and a prior-year tax benefit, and masked growth in sales and margins.

Total sales for the quarter increased to $752 million, compared with $736 million last year.

Same-store sales increased 1%.