Posts by Patti Freeman Evans (bio)

Pfreemanevans | April 02, 2008, 09:26 PM
Amazon Brings Text to Buy

Tuesday Amazon launched their TextBuyIt service that allows Amazon members to use their mobile phone (even very basic ones like I have) to text Amazon, find products and buy them through a few step process. Seems like it could serve an impulse buying circumstance. This does expand the option of buying from a website via your mobile phone to a group of customers who are not early adopters of internet enabled phones. On the other hand one could argue that they will be less likely to use this service because all they do with their phones is talk. The bigger issue is that this service might raise awareness of a broader base of customers to use their phone as a purchasing device, not that customers will aggressively use it, but raising awareness is a first step.

Pfreemanevans | March 24, 2008, 09:05 PM
Google's Search within Search Tool Painful, but Perhaps Inevitable

Retailers have been mad at Google before: Gmail ads, competitive bidding on branded terms. And yet, retailers still cite search (organic and paid) as the top revenue driver among all sources. I do totally get their anger. What company would be happy to see competitive ads presented when a customer specifically asks for info about your own brand.

But there is a bigger picture issue here, even beyond the state of retail site search experiences. And that issue is that retailers will continue to face an arena that is increasingly diffused. Meaning that customers will have more and more easy-to-access avenues to discover, learn about, price compare and buy products. See our report about this issue: <em>Multichannel Retail: Understanding an Increasingly Complex and Competitive Market Google's new search feature is just another step along that path. As customers become more accustomed to non-traditional interactions as they shop, retailers will have to adjust. So, improving their own site search is a start. Also, optimizing their search terms, especially in organic search is critical. But, also, retailers should realize that this secondary search experience might send a more qualified customer and thus have a positive impact on conversion. So, retailers should watch how customers are interacting with this secondary search to understand how to better serve them when they do actually get on to their site. Because, after all, even though many shoppers use Google as part of their process, the most common reason they buy from any site is previous experience with that site. So take what ever you and learn from this Google tool and apply it to your site to reinforce customer loyalty and mitigate the impact of competitive ads.

Pfreemanevans | March 13, 2008, 05:40 PM
February Retail Sales

The commerce department reported a .2% decline in retail sales today which was below what economic analysts were projecting (.2% increase). Disappointing to be sure, but not entirely unexpected due to the hammering consumers have taken over the last few quarters and the addition of disappointing employment numbers. We are seeing a continuing trend of consumers shifting their purchases from discretionary items like consumer electronics and home products over to more necessary items like food, apparel and HBA. Consumers have finally started decreasing their spending on gas as well. So overall consumers are reacting to the dismal news they hear on a daily basis.

Some bright spots are likely due to this shift in spending. Wal-Mart increased, as did Costco and Target. JC Penny and Nordstrom were down even though they said apparel categories were relatively strong. And we are hearing conflicting reports about the upscale and luxury markets. Saks did well, increasing by 3.4% across same stores, but Burt Tansky from Neiman Marcus said he was seeing softening from his top customers.

Still online fares pretty well, with many retailers reporting very strong growth. We don't expect online growth will be too severely impacted by this difficult market unless a recession becomes very deep and very long. Newness and high end customers will bolster online sales through a slow down most likely.

Pfreemanevans | February 14, 2008, 06:30 PM
Amazon the Egalitarian...

I just saw Amazon's new program where on some Amazon product detail pages, competing or complementary items and their prices now appear in a list of text-link ads under headings such as "Available at these other websites." It is an interesting endeavor, perhaps moving Amazon even further along to being a ubiquitous marketplace. The links are clearly for other retailers but they do look like they belong on Amazon, rather than like paid affiliate placements. At the bottom of the list are options to buy used items and a link to sell your own item. Although there are only three listings of other retailers on the pages I viewed, this feature seems like a possible win-win. Though other retailers have tried ad placements before to little success, in this case the information provides just what the customer is looking for. In fact, as customers shop online, they go to two sites on average as they research a purchase. The most frequently cited reason for using multiple sites is to find more prices. Amazon allows customers to satisfy that need while remaining on their site. this may create even greater value to Amazon customers, as well as a new revenue stream for Amazon. I like a win-win when I see it.

Pfreemanevans | January 17, 2008, 09:13 PM
NRF Views: Paco Underhill Has Been Cloned

At the NRF Big show this week I saw some new technologies that take a page right out of Paco Underhill's wildly successful consulting book. One company is called VideoMining. They use simple security cameras in retail stores and their technology creates metrics from the actual video footage. Figures like how many people go to the left when entering the store, how many items do people pick up, how long are they in the store, etc. VideoMining creates reports and dashboards for the retailers to assess and act upon (perhaps this is really where no one can be like Paco). But, this technology is both exciting and a little scary. It's exciting because it gives store retailers a way to track instore behavior in a similar manner to website tracking and can provide a rich trove of data. The key will be knowing what to do with the data, which is not small task as we have seen in the online space. On the downside, there could be privacy issues afoot. Since the video is no longer just used for security purposes, consumers might take offense. We'll be watching...or at least someone will be.

Pfreemanevans | December 18, 2007, 03:36 PM
Back Surgeons Beware

I've been playing with an Amazon Kindle over the last few days. Few things in this world are more intuitive to use than a book, and the good news is the Kindle is pretty easy to use and very comfortable to read at long stretches. I know they are sold out now, Amazon is taking orders and should have more soon, too bad for some holiday gifts. But, I think the real life of this product is longer than a gimmick for the holiday season.

Around my neighborhood I see kids walking to school laden with backpacks as big as they are and that sag under the weight of all the books they carry. In fact one kid was struggling so badly that her dad, in exasperation, finally just grabbed her backpack from her and heaved it over his own shoulder. I wonder if the Kindle, or perhaps Sony's version, aren't the type of tool that will alleviate this extreme burden from school kids and save their backs from certain lumbago.

Pfreemanevans | December 10, 2007, 07:32 PM
Apple Store Focuses on Training as well as Product

I went to the opening of the new Apple store on 14th St. and 9th Avenue here in NYC last week and was once again impressed. The location is very hip, in the meatpacking district where all the cool people - and presumably Apple customers - hang out. But it's not that convenient to get to. I guess they chose hip over convenience which is probably okay since Apple stores are destinations.

The store itself is lovely and exhibits the same clean design as the other stores in Manhattan and the cool glass spiral staircase similar to the 5th Avenue location. One thing I found to be impressive was the third floor. It is totally devoted to training and service. So one third of the store's total floor space is devoted to non-selling (or at least not directly) activities. This approach is clearly about long-term customer care and loyalty driving tactics. Quite impressive when you think about sales per square foot calculations that store-based retailers rely on as a key metric. Kudos to Apple. I do think that getting people fully engaged and proficient (the ultimate sampling opportunity) with the product is the ultimate in customer engagement and retention. Plus, there is some element of acquisition opportunity too. Just think about trying to buy a computer and assume one needs help getting started or optimizing system use, a key consideration is how to find that type of service. Having a local store with a service like this Apple service might motivate your to buy there rather than from another seller.

Pfreemanevans | November 29, 2007, 03:39 PM
Cyber Monday Drives 'Em In

Following on the heels of a strong Black Friday weekend, Cyber Monday seemed to keep up pace. We are hearing reports of 20%+ increases in sales overall. And some specific results are pretty impressive. eBags.com had their second biggest day ever and saw sales increase 70%. Traffic to CyberMonday.com was three times heavier versus last year. And, according to Hitwise traffic numbers, the share of traffic to retail websites increased by 27% over previous year. But, Cyber Monday traffic was still not as heavy a traffic day as Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday. It just goes to show us that heavy promotions work - even at the expense of AOV (both online and offline). Let's hope it is all worth it at the end of the season.

Pfreemanevans | November 26, 2007, 10:04 PM
Another Black Friday

If you look at just the top line sales, Black Friday 2007 was a great success - increase of anywhere between 7 and 8.3% have been reported. This is much in excess of the overall holiday retail season increase of 4% projected by the National Retail Federation. Good news. And, we are seeing reports that the increase was due to more people flocking to the stores. So the hype and advertising worked. Again great, also because the primary reason people choose a store to buy from is previous experience. So good.

But, on the other hand, the average order value has been reported to be less than last year. It looks like the $1000+ HDTV’s are not the hot item anymore, but rather $129 GPS and $150 digital picture frames are moving briskly, along with the traditional categories of apparel, books, cd's and dvd's. But also, if the offers were more aggressive than last year for the same merchandise, AOV goes down again.

Last year, we saw a strong Black Friday weekend but a bit of a soft December. Perhaps we have trained holiday customers more than we have the rest of the year to only buy during the big promotions.

Pfreemanevans | October 23, 2007, 11:32 PM
Amazon’s Earnings

Third quarter revenue up 41%. Operating margin down 2 basis points. Hummm, could it be Harry Potter’s fault?

Pfreemanevans | September 13, 2007, 08:26 PM
Image Recognition Technology Emerging

Today, Yahoo! Shopping launched their shop by color feature. The tool makes use of image recognition technology to match the color of pixels in photos sent to Yahoo! Shopping by their retail partners to the 56 different color groupings they have outlined. Yahoo has applied this new software only to categories where color might be most relevant such as apparel. Some retailers have rudimentary sort by color features in their search tools, but not to this degree. And, since the ability to drill down on search results remains one of the most useful features to online shoppers, more robust attributes are a good thing. Yahoo’s tools isn’t perfect yet, a search for white women’s blouses showed a number of green and pink camisoles – most likely due to the color of the mannequin that dominates the skimpy piece of apparel and thus overweighs the color matching. Bugs not withstanding, this is a nice feature the builds on the image recognition developments that have recently arisen from companies such as Like.com.

Pfreemanevans | July 09, 2007, 03:37 PM
Be a Parent to Your Customers

I have been on the ecommerce and direct marketing conference circuit over the last few months and have heard a lot about customers now being in control or “in the driver’s seat” and how this may change how we do business. While I agree that we are in an era of changing relationships between customers and brands, I don’t really believe that most customers what to be in the driver’s seat. What customers want is to be heard. Companies should put them in the passenger’s seat, and let them act as navigator while brands keep their hands firmly on the wheel and their foot on the gas, or brakes.

Also, there is a growing amount of customer chatter on sites external to a brand’s site that brands can’t control and that is scary. And to some degree, that fear is well-founded. But really, customers don’t just make stuff up about brands. Their comments are formed by their interactions with that brand and those of their peers. So, even though brands can’t control what customers say, there remains a degree of influence on the dialog. I think the best way to look at it is to use the analogy that the brand (or retailer) is the parent and the customers are teenagers. Parents can’t control what their teenagers do or say when they are not around. The only things parents can do is clearly and emphatically impart to their kids their beliefs and values, set clear boundaries, and be consistent, be consistent, be consistent. Then brands have to trust that their kids have been raised right and then they have to let them go. This practice is easy to say and hard to do, but in an increasingly competitive world it will help brands focus on doing business and learning from their customers, rather than on controlling them.

Pfreemanevans | July 09, 2007, 03:37 PM
Be a Parent to Your Customers

I have been on the ecommerce and direct marketing conference circuit over the last few months and have heard a lot about customers now being in control or “in the driver’s seat” and how this may change how we do business. While I agree that we are in an era of changing relationships between customers and brands, I don’t really believe that most customers what to be in the driver’s seat. What customers want is to be heard. Companies should put them in the passenger’s seat, and let them act as navigator while brands keep their hands firmly on the wheel and their foot on the gas, or brakes.

Also, there is a growing amount of customer chatter on sites external to a brand’s site that brands can’t control and that is scary. And to some degree, that fear is well-founded. But really, customers don’t just make stuff up about brands. Their comments are formed by their interactions with that brand and those of their peers. So, even though brands can’t control what customers say, there remains a degree of influence on the dialog. I think the best way to look at it is to use the analogy that the brand (or retailer) is the parent and the customers are teenagers. Parents can’t control what their teenagers do or say when they are not around. The only things parents can do is clearly and emphatically impart to their kids their beliefs and values, set clear boundaries, and be consistent, be consistent, be consistent. Then brands have to trust that their kids have been raised right and then they have to let them go. This practice is easy to say and hard to do, but in an increasingly competitive world it will help brands focus on doing business and learning from their customers, rather than on controlling them.

Pfreemanevans | July 02, 2007, 02:59 PM
Differential your assortment, or at least your Barbie

This week I went to a very nice event at the revitalized FAO Schwarz store on Fifth Avenue here in NYC. The event promoted the newly launched Barbie shop on the second floor of the store where girls and their parents create their own Barbie look. There is a nifty computer interface with clear directions that prompt girls to select the Barbie or one of her “friends” (only the Blonds are true Barbies, brunettes or those of other ethnicities are “friends”). Then there is a series of fashion and accessory choices that allow the girls to style their own Barbie -- kind of a Build A Bear for the girly set. Once the parents go pay for the doll that the girls design, a receipt with a bar code is given and it takes about 15 minutes for the new doll to be ready. The girl’s name appears on a big flat screen about the register and it is time to scan your receipt and wait for your Barbie to come waltzing down the runway with a big sign next to her saying, “Styled by [insert excited girl’s name here].” And, talk about unbridled enthusiasm; the little girls I saw at the event were literally jumping up and down with glee as they saw their new Barbie coming down the runway. This is a terrific example of how FAO is reinventing itself to offer classic toys in new ways and to provide assortments not found elsewhere. In an increasingly competitive online retail arena, this effort is a lesson to retailers that differentiation will be critical in the coming quarters and years.

Pfreemanevans | June 18, 2007, 09:05 PM
Dot Calm?

The New York Times on Sunday reported that the rate of online sales growth has peaked. This is true and it is as we have expected, and stated, for quite some time. But the way many people seem to read this is that growth has peaked and we will begin to see declines in year over year sales along with falling customer satisfaction. This is not the case. What is true is that the sea-change in behavior of consumers flocking to the internet to start buying is over. It is also true that customer satisfaction remains quite high online and is in fact higher overall than for offline experiences. The key news here that the Times rightly points out is that online retail is entering into a period of maturity where growth will be more organic rather than explosive. That means that the competitive fires will continue to heat up and as we have written in the past, retailers must step up their game in terms of differentiating their product, service and communication offerings. They must also rethink their efforts to drive loyalty, not just frequency, among their customers in order to maintain and grow market share.

Online retail is not over by any means. And if you add in the percent of offline sales that will be influenced by customers researching online, the internet will impact nearly half of all US retail by 2011 - that is more than $1 trillion. That is a whole lot business in my book.

Pfreemanevans | May 03, 2007, 04:43 PM
Boo.com resurrects as travel site.

I can't quite understand why one would bring back a brand name that is synonymous with crash in the travel arena no less.

But having said that, the new Boo is trying to bring user generated content to bear on the online hotel-booking arena. As my colleague, Diane Clarkson, points out in her report: Travel Consumer-Created Content: Employing Online Reviews and Recommendations to Enhance Relevancy
http://www.jupiterresearch.com/bin/item.pl/research:concept/109/id=97429,pos=2/,

travel sites offering consumer reviews of hotel properties have been around for quite some time yet only garnered about 5% traffic from online travel buyers. The new Boo.com offers direct booking in addition to user reviews, which is a convenience, but generally these sites tend to remain of niche appeal. Perhaps that will be fine for Boo.com redux, thus they avoid the massive flameout the original operators experienced.

Pfreemanevans | May 01, 2007, 04:08 PM
Matching Price and Promotion Across Channels

Another shopping anecdote that further emphasizes the complexities of our current multichannel-retailing environment. A friend was shopping online for a big screen TV. As a good analyst, he had done extensive research online and finally zeroed in on the make and model he wanted. He found a good price and free shipping at one of the major multichannel consumer electronics retailers. But, he didn’t buy it online even though the TV was so big he would have to ship it. Being a nice guy, he thought he would go to the store and let a sales associate get a hefty commission on his purchase. Plus he was going to buy a number of ancillary items. In he went only to find out that the store would not match the free shipping offer he could get online. Given the item, this charge was not small expense and my friend left the store and went home to buy the item from another store. It seems that if consumer electronics retailers are willing to match the price of competitors, as most are, they aught to be able to match their own promotions across channels. Online buyers who shop with the same store across multiple channels agree – 48% say they expect to see the same promotions across channels.

Pfreemanevans | April 30, 2007, 05:50 PM
Has a multichannel attitude arrived on the selling floor?

My husband and I were shopping in a Banana Republic looking for trousers for him. He is an odd size and we have regular difficulty finding the right clothes for him. As we feared the store didn’t have his size in stock. But, the sales woman told us that the online store might have our size. I asked if she could look it up for us from the store. She said yes and did so. It turns out the web store did have our size and it was in stock. I asked if the sales woman could order it from the web store right there in the store. She asked her manager who frowned and said she could. Not a very enthusiastic answer, but a yes nevertheless. Then I asked if I would have to pay for shipping since I was in the store and they didn’t have my size. They said I would have to pay. I forgot to ask if they could order the item from the web to ship to store for me to pick up. We decided not to buy and went home trouser-less.

The upshot of this experience for me was overall very, very positive and the store almost saved a sale. Plus, I will remember that the store has this capability and will be more likely to go ask for my husband’s odd size next time rather than being disappointed and walking out. And, I will be more likely to try the website in the future now that we know they have my husband’s size. The tools to help a customer across channels are in place at Banana Republic. and the store staff is helpful. But when it comes to actually placing an order via the web, in store there is hesitation on both sides -- I don't want to pay to have something shipped if I was in the store and the manager clearly wasn't that interested in placing a web order for me. It seems likely that the old bugaboos of organization and compensation might still be standing in the way of fully servicing the customer. Was the store manager concerned that she would not get credit for the sale? Did she not want the service hassle if I didn't get the order on time once she placed it? Hard to say, but it seems like the easy part is done, now we need focus on herding the store cats to be more on board with a corporate multichannel vision. Sounds like retail as usual....

Pfreemanevans | April 11, 2007, 08:08 PM
Retail Community Sites: A sink or swim proposition for retailers

In an effort to capitalize on the current growth of “social” sites online, Lands’ End launched a site that focuses on swimwear and features places where people can post their stories of wearing swimsuits. It seems like some people might share that their suit fit and they felt good in it. But will they share that they wore it a second time, or will they buy another next week, and the next week, etc. For people to share on an ongoing basis - not just one off – the content has to be a compelling, repeat topic. And, from the content user perspective, I wonder how often an individual will return to a swimwear community site and how interested they might be about how a woman decides she doesn't care so much about her swimsuit look because she is surrounded by lots of cute frolicking kids and no one is looking at her.

Yes fit is a very, very difficult issue to solve - particularly acute in swim- and I think the tools are good and the advice and the live help are all good. They take advice further by recommending suit styles by body type. But this is an information push more than a community pull; a branding effort. This seems more like a forum for Lands' End to post customer feedback than it does a place where people are going to engage on an ongoing basis. And, wouldn’t it make sense to have this information right on the product detail pages along with sort-able reviews where a customer is trying to decide what suit to buy? Perhaps live interaction forums where suit buyers can share directly how the item they bought REALLY fits might be of value here. Also, maybe Lands’ End would want to solicit specific fit comments from those customers who are willing to participate in the community so that the one key pain point can be more specifically addressed.

Pfreemanevans | December 11, 2006, 04:41 PM
Today Is The Big Day For Online Sales, One Week Before Ground Shipping Cut Off Dates.

If last year is any indication, we may see peak online holiday sales volume today. Typically, last Monday and today have been the heaviest sales days for online retailers. Makes sense because next Monday is the most common ground shipping cut off date among retailers, according to a recent Jupiter Research webtrack of 47 top retail websites. But, ground cut off dates start as early as the 14th at some retailers. Though 37 percent of online buyers say they will still buy online after ground deadlines, and that’s a big opportunity, 44 percent say they will not. So now is the time for online retailers to make hay. Only 66 percent of the retailers reviewed posted their shipping cut off dates, and only 17 percent had a link to their deadline information on the home page. Customers may have to dig in the customer service links for the information even if it is not listed on the home page. This lack of disclosure is a little surprising because 55 percent of consumers who say that seeing cut off dates helps them to plan their purchases earlier. Kmart, L.L. Bean and Sears all had nice holiday shipping guide links and clear information. The most common dates for express shipping are: December 20th for two-day, and December 21st for overnight.

Pfreemanevans | December 07, 2006, 09:23 PM
Crashing Websites? Is this 1999 again?

Since Thanksgiving, Overstock.com, Macys.com, Wal-Mart.com, cybermonday.com and Amazon.com, to name a few biggies have all had site slowdown issues. One would think that after 10 years of online selling retailers could plan for the traffic they are getting even at peak times. Well, in fact retailers are planning for these spikes in traffic. The problem is that no CFO or CEO of an Internet business would rightly allow a relatively mature online retailer to plan for an eight-fold increase in traffic. The response to the door-buster promotions online retailers are promoting this year, many for the first time, has been extraordinary. In fact, Patrick Byrne, CEO of Overstock.com, said, "Consumer response to the promotion was beyond anything we imagined, and we had a big imagination." The same has been true at each of these retailers. So what is causing these heavy traffic days? Certainly media and marketing hype has something to do with it. But these aspects don’t totally account for such dramatic gains. The answer seems to lie in different places for different retailers. According to Hitwise traffic share data, Wal-Mart.com experienced a huge spike in traffic on November 23rd. So it looks like Wal-Mart had a huge influx of customers looking for big offline deals for Black Friday. The other retailers, Overstock, Amazon.com, Macys.com all had increases in traffic over the last three weeks, but no giant spike in unique visitors like Wal-Mart. This data says to me that these retailers had a great number of the same customers constantly pinging their sites to be first “in-line” when the promoted deals went live. Customers are moving their offline waiting behavior to online and instead of filling up the parking lot or bruising their fellow shoppers offline, they are “waiting in line” online and slowing down or crashing the sites a bit.

Pfreemanevans | December 04, 2006, 09:42 PM
Will New Offers From Payment Providers Spark Holiday Sales

Written by special guest blogger: Ed Kountz

How can online merchants and consumers enhance their 2006 holiday shopping? If leading online alternate payment services are successful, one way will be a payment method for online purchases.

Alternate online payment services are aggressively positioning themselves this holiday season, pitching no-fee transactions through year’s end for qualifying merchants whose customers choose those payment options. In addition, early evidence shows healthy rates of holiday usage for alternate payment services, including PayPal, Google Checkout, BillMeLater and Secure e-Bill.

Consumer adoption of online alternate payment services has traditionally been relatively modest. Even PayPal ranked as consumers’ number-four preference for making online payments, according to 2006 JupiterResearch survey data. Yet in the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving, PayPal, Google Checkout and Secure e-Bill all announced incentives for merchants and/ or consumers who used their payment services for holiday shopping.

PayPal is offering cash rebates of up to $20 when purchasing via PayPal Express Checkout on qualifying merchant sites from Nov. 23 2006 through May 15 2007. “Qualifying merchants” must support PayPal’s Express Checkout, and are eligible for free marketing promotion on PayPal’s holiday site. Google announced that it would offer merchants fee-free transaction processing on transactions initiated using Google Checkout, Google’s streamlined checkout alternative, between Nov. 8th and December 31, 2006. Google merchants are passing these incentives on to consumers: Buy.com is offering customers $10 off a $30 purchase for using Google Checkout. Online cardless deferred billing provider Secure e-Bill, has upped the ante. Secure e-Bill is offering free transaction processing for accepting merchants between November 10, 2006 and February 28, 2007, plus a $25 consumer rebate for Secure e-Bill purchases.

The risk, short-term, is that revenues will suffer for increasing “try me” market share. To be worthwhile, that “try me” market share must transform into repeat customer relationships, bolstered merchant acceptance, and enhanced merchant site visibility. As a recent JupiterResearch report on online cardless deferred billing found, early evidence appears to be positive. And e-commerce solutions provider GSI Commerce recently reported that PayPal, Google Checkout and BillMeLater drove 18 percent of online sales for the 60% of its merchant partners supporting online alternate payments between Friday Nov. 24th and Monday Nov 27 2006. While the jury will be out on these efforts until the final 2006 holiday season numbers are in, the next few weeks are worth watching.

Pfreemanevans | December 01, 2006, 04:27 PM
The Annual Game of Chicken Is Afoot

As we hit the first of December today, we see the dust settling from the Black Friday and Cyber Monday frenzy and the game of chicken between retailers and holiday shoppers beginning. Each year, retailers plan for a series of promotions and markdowns to generate excitement and traffic throughout the holiday season. However, the best-laid plans are not always enough to generate the top line sales retailers hope for. So, they watch the daily sell through and traffic numbers to gauge where they are against plan and goal. If they see that sales are sluggish, they will beef up their promotional plan. But, they will wait until the last possible minute to do so in the hope that any given day in December can turn around the seasonal trend…and because each day is so important at this time of year, one great day can make a big difference. In the mean time, shoppers are in and out of stores and websites (in fact I overheard a woman in the elevator tell a friend that she was exhausted from lots of late nights this week spent online shopping for gifts). But sales figures show that the heaviest days sales occur later and later each the year. As customers dawdle, retailers sweat. As customers procrastinate, retailers begin to sell out of key items buyers become desperate to get. So, we wait to see who blinks first. But, do consumers really hold out for the last minute sales? Not really, or at least not consciously. According to our holiday consumer surveys, only 4 percent of online holiday buyers said they waited for the big day-after-thanksgiving and end-of-season sales to do their shopping online and get the best deals. Customers generally are just not as efficient as we would all hope to be and thus they end up doing the bulk of their buying last minute continuing to up the ante to retailers in their game of chicken.

Pfreemanevans | November 28, 2006, 07:19 PM
Cyber Monday: Warranted Hype?

All those media types who are tying to pooh-pooh Cyber Monday are missing the point. Black Friday is not the busiest traffic or biggest sales day of the year for offline retailers and no one says that day is a hoax. No one claims cyber Monday is the biggest sales day or the busiest traffic day. It is a big day among big days. But, the point is that Cyber Monday represents a difference from offline sales trends. Whereas customers need to get back to work or back to their regular lives on the Monday following Thanksgiving, and, in doing so, they tended to put holiday shopping on the back burner. The heaviest online ordering times continue to be Mondays and Tuesdays from noon to two and just after 5 pm. Cyber Monday showed continued strong online traffic rather than a significant slowing that occurred in offline stores. This presented a new opportunity for retailers to perpetuate the excitement around holiday buying. Just as retailers noted an opportunity the day after thanksgiving - heavy traffic in the stores since so many people were off work and thinking about holiday present buying - they wondered, "how can we make this bigger." So too have online retailers of all types worked the same strategy, "how do we make this particular Monday bigger." The point is not to over take other days, eclipse black Friday or even diminish the potential for online sales on black Friday, but rather, the point is to capitalize on an existing customer trend. Just because cyber Monday is not the biggest day of the year, doesn't mean it doesn't have significance.