Loyalty Marketing

Cart abandonment is a very real problem during the holiday season, but mobile users are giving up on orders most often.   These details were revealed in an infographic from Barilliance that detailed shopping behavior among 50 million consumers between Nov. 25 and Nov. 28.   

One of the nation’s top mall operators is expanding an innovative concept is designed to solve the top pain point of online shopping: returns.    Macerich is expanding its Happy Returns service to three additional malls: Fashion Outlets of Chicago, The Shops at North Bridge, and Tysons Corner Center. The service builds on the success of the mall operator’s first Return Bar, at Santa Monica Place, Santa Monica, Calif.  

If you’re concerned about employee engagement and reducing your staff turn-over numbers, you’re not alone. Fortunately, there’s a startup offering solutions to meet your workers engagement goals and encourage your associates to stay onboard and thrive with your team. Other companies in the spotlight this month are innovating around point-of-purchase mobile marketing, using in-store scents to stand out, real-time store promotional display monitoring and creating meaningful and memorable customer experiences.  

Incorporating digital components into the physical store is the next frontier for retailers. You see, customers’ expectations have grown while their attention spans have shrunk. Some reports have even found that goldfish (yes, you read that right, goldfish) have a longer attention span than humans.   

Wallets are definitely getting lighter this holiday season, especially as more shoppers use mobile wallets.   Nearly one quarter of consumers (24.2%) currently use mobile wallets, and 48.5% plan to make a gift purchase with their digital wallet this holiday season. Further, more than two thirds (69.6%) of wallet users indicated they would use their mobile wallets even more if more merchants allowed them to pay that way.  

More Amazon Prime shoppers skipped the Black Friday hype this weekend than ever before.   Only 59% of Prime members ended up shopping in-store on Black Friday, down from 65% last year. This drop represented a 9.2% year-over-year decline.   This message was delivered in a survey conducted by InfoScout. The study, which was conducted the day after Black Friday, tapped 2,000 shoppers.  

Frustrating digital experiences will land brands on the naughty list this holiday season.   In fact, 81% of frequent online shoppers said they have previously been frustrated with slow-loading websites, mobile sites or native mobile apps, with over three-quarters (76%) saying if a retailer’s web site or mobile site performs poorly they tend to avoid shopping there again.  

To cut through the noise in a cluttered marketplace, Express Gifts is getting personal.    With 35,000 products sold and a growing online presence, web-based sales continue to drive significant turns for Express Gifts. However, to understand and influence their online visitors, the gifting retailer knew personalization was critical to extend the loyalty of their existing customer base, and increase market share.