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With this year's short holiday shopping season nearly here, retailers are nervous about sales performance. E-commerce, however, has been a bright spot for retail and is expected to increase in the 13% to 15% range this year. And while anxious retailers will be pursuing all possible avenues to boost sales as the holiday season approaches, newspaper advertising is still playing a key role in driving e-commerce.
By Jim Conaghan
NetNewsCheck,
Seasons, both astronomical and metrological, have finite definitions. Astronomical is based on the Earth’s tilt, metrological on temperature. Professional sports have seasons, though the demarcation lines are fungible. Hockey champions skate on the indoor ice to finish their season in the heat of June, while baseball’s boys of summer might wait until a frosty night in late October before lifting their trophy.
And then there is the holiday shopping season.
Misty nostalgic memories might have one think it commences once Santa passes into Herald Square during the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade. But no more. “Christmas Creep” long ago pushed its invasion of the calendar turf into October, and this year staged a lightning assault on early September. K-Mart aired holiday ads for its layaway program a week after Labor Day. Wal-Mart alerted consumers in mid-August that its own holiday layaway program would begin Sept. 13. Retailers have reason to leap the creep earlier. Some are quite nervous about sales performance. This year there are only 26 days between Thanksgiving and Christmas, compared with 32 days last year. That abbreviated window occurs within in a still-tepid economic recovery. Further, sagging consumer sentiment aggravated by the 16-day Federal government shutdown that furloughed 800,000 workers, combined with news speculating about potential dire fallout from the debt-ceiling deadline are enough to make even the most optimistic merchant jumpy.
But there is one bright spot anticipated in this murky equation: e-commerce.Last year, Black Friday online sales increased 26%, while in-store sales slipped 2%. Shop.org, the digital division of the National Retail Federation, estimates online holiday sales will increase in the 13% to 15% range this year. A double-digit increase is eye-popping when considering NRF’s forecast of a lukewarm 3.9% rise in overall holiday sales. Similarly, eMarketer forecast e-commerce to jump 15% for the holidays, reaching $61.8 billion. And Volusion, an e-commerce solutions provider based in Austin, Texas, estimates small-to-medium size business will have a 20% growth in holiday sales, even greater for categories such as sporting goods (up 36%) and electronics (up 18%).
To prepare for the expected electronic rush, online retailer Amazon is hiring an additional 70,000 seasonal workers for the holidays, 40% more than in 2012. Wal-Mart just opened a new fulfillment center in Ft. Worth, Texas, dedicated to processing online sales.
The surge in smartphone and tablet purchases in the last 12 months provides a vastly expanded base of devices to engage in online shopping. EMarketer expects retail sales by consumers using smartphones and tablets to make purchases will reach nearly $10 billion for November and December, accounting for 16% of e-commerce.
Both digital and traditional media play an important role in driving ecommerce. Glossy catalogs now filling our mailboxes urge readers to go online to buy, many offering free shipping. Newspaper advertising also has a key role in driving e-commerce. In a study conducted during the 2012 holiday shopping season, the Newspaper Association of America found that 40% of adults took some form of online action — searching, purchasing or visiting a website — during the month as a result of seeing an ad in the newspaper. The study also pointed out that consumers who visit newspaper websites are far above the average online population in terms of their online shopping activities. Another NAA study, fielded in an online panel in the same time period, found that 63% of adults named local newspapers as the most effective place to learn about sales and store information for Black Friday, and local newspaper websites ranked second (47%).
Anxious retailers will no doubt be pursuing all possible avenues to boost sales as the holiday season rumbles onward.
Jim Conaghan, a regular CrowdCheck contributor, is VP of research and industry analysis at the Newspaper Association of America.
Article Orgin
And then there is the holiday shopping season.
Misty nostalgic memories might have one think it commences once Santa passes into Herald Square during the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade. But no more. “Christmas Creep” long ago pushed its invasion of the calendar turf into October, and this year staged a lightning assault on early September. K-Mart aired holiday ads for its layaway program a week after Labor Day. Wal-Mart alerted consumers in mid-August that its own holiday layaway program would begin Sept. 13. Retailers have reason to leap the creep earlier. Some are quite nervous about sales performance. This year there are only 26 days between Thanksgiving and Christmas, compared with 32 days last year. That abbreviated window occurs within in a still-tepid economic recovery. Further, sagging consumer sentiment aggravated by the 16-day Federal government shutdown that furloughed 800,000 workers, combined with news speculating about potential dire fallout from the debt-ceiling deadline are enough to make even the most optimistic merchant jumpy.
But there is one bright spot anticipated in this murky equation: e-commerce.Last year, Black Friday online sales increased 26%, while in-store sales slipped 2%. Shop.org, the digital division of the National Retail Federation, estimates online holiday sales will increase in the 13% to 15% range this year. A double-digit increase is eye-popping when considering NRF’s forecast of a lukewarm 3.9% rise in overall holiday sales. Similarly, eMarketer forecast e-commerce to jump 15% for the holidays, reaching $61.8 billion. And Volusion, an e-commerce solutions provider based in Austin, Texas, estimates small-to-medium size business will have a 20% growth in holiday sales, even greater for categories such as sporting goods (up 36%) and electronics (up 18%).
The surge in smartphone and tablet purchases in the last 12 months provides a vastly expanded base of devices to engage in online shopping. EMarketer expects retail sales by consumers using smartphones and tablets to make purchases will reach nearly $10 billion for November and December, accounting for 16% of e-commerce.
Both digital and traditional media play an important role in driving ecommerce. Glossy catalogs now filling our mailboxes urge readers to go online to buy, many offering free shipping. Newspaper advertising also has a key role in driving e-commerce. In a study conducted during the 2012 holiday shopping season, the Newspaper Association of America found that 40% of adults took some form of online action — searching, purchasing or visiting a website — during the month as a result of seeing an ad in the newspaper. The study also pointed out that consumers who visit newspaper websites are far above the average online population in terms of their online shopping activities. Another NAA study, fielded in an online panel in the same time period, found that 63% of adults named local newspapers as the most effective place to learn about sales and store information for Black Friday, and local newspaper websites ranked second (47%).
Anxious retailers will no doubt be pursuing all possible avenues to boost sales as the holiday season rumbles onward.
Jim Conaghan, a regular CrowdCheck contributor, is VP of research and industry analysis at the Newspaper Association of America.
Article Orgin
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