Consumer Analytics

Aisle50, an online technology platform that delivers grocery discounts on major and local brands to consumers, has teamed up with premium brands such as Clorox, Starbucks, Smuckers and Red Bull to offer consumers recurring discounts on the products they buy most often.

According to Aisle50, the move gives its retailer partners, which include Raley’s, Shop ‘n Save and Homeland Stores, an e-commerce platform that is unique within the world of groceries.

New York -- eMarketer projects that retail e-commerce holiday sales in the U.S. will rise about 15% again this year, matching last year's gains. In total, U.S. retail e-commerce sales for the holiday season — defined as November and December — are expected to reach $61.8 billion, up from $53.7 billion last year, according to the report.
 
As well, eMarketer estimates US retail e-commerce sales will grow 16.4% to $262.3 billion this year, with 23.5% ($61.8 billion) of this taking place in November and December.

Portland, Ore. -- Research conducted by InComm found that 67% of consumers surveyed have previously bought a gift card from an online website or mobile website/app, while 33% have not.

Respondents answered questions about their purchasing habits and their intentions for purchasing gift cards from websites and mobile devices – as well as digital cards specifically – this holiday season and beyond.

Highlights of the survey include:

Oakland, Calif. -- Current consumer behavior indicates that most consumers are more concerned with how well retailers are able to deliver goods according to customer preferences than about ordering via social media channels.

A GT Nexus online survey, conducted in association with YouGov, showed that while 3% of respondents say they have purchased goods using social media channels, consumers generally cite the inclusion of delivery/collection options as being important to them when ordering a product either online or in-store (75%).

By Steve Cole, CMO, Gladson

Here’s a bit of holiday cheer for retailers: According to Shop.org, online sales will grow 13%-15% this holiday season. But do retailers have what it takes to cash in?

Given the origins of Cyber Monday, it should have become irrelevant in the grand scheme of online holiday sales. That’s far from the case though as evidenced by the latest insights from digital measurement firm comScore.

The leading digital measurement firm released data late Tuesday showing Cyber Monday sales increased 18% to more than $1.7 billion to establish a new record for the heaviest online shopping day in history. It was also the second day this season in which online sales surpassed $1 billion which was the case on Black Friday.

Target spent an estimated $28 million on advertising November 3-7, which netted it nearly 12% of retail traffic during Thanksgiving weekend, according to data released this week from Kantar Media Ad Intelligence and Placed.

CodeBroker has developed a marketing tool that enables retailers to securely deliver money savings offers to potential consumers via Facebook, while increasing brand awareness and building customer loyalty.

Created with retailers who are reluctant to leverage Facebook to offer discounts in mind, Smart Coupons for Facebook lets retailers know when an offer is received on Facebook, when it is viewed and when and where it was redeemed — which, according to CodeBroker, provides retailers with a comprehensive picture of the purchase funnel.

Although sales at Express during Thanksgiving week exceeded last year's, results did not meet the company’s expectations and it’s bracing itself for a tough holiday shopping season.

The specialty retail apparel chain operating approximately 630 stores reported net sales of $503 million, an increase of 7% from $468.5 million in the third quarter of 2012. Comparable sales increased 5% versus a decline of 5% in last year's third quarter. E-commerce sales increased 29% to $71.2 million this quarter, above last year's third quarter increase of 21%.

Virtual Piggy has changed the name of its youth payments service to Oink.

The service enables teens to manage — with parental supervision — their allowances online, shop safely and track budgets, thereby teaching them financial management skills. Now called Oink, the service is available online or via mobile, and is 100% free to use. Oink will continue to employ Virtual Piggy’s privacy protection protocols, compliant with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act.