This week marked one of the biggest events outside of the holiday shopping season: Amazon Prime Day. Many retailers have started promoting ‘Early Black Friday’ deals in spring and summer, but none have come close to creating the frenzy that accompanies Amazon Prime Day. As their 3rd annual event ended, Amazon broke their own records with 60% growth over 2016 and sales that surpassed Black Friday and Cyber Monday (CNBC).
Now that Amazon Prime day is over, what can retailers do to prepare for the next shopping frenzy in November?
Prepare Your Mobile Strategy
Retailers know that purchases using mobile devices continue to rise in all age demographics. Even in affiliate markets where the predominant purchase method is through desktop, affiliates need to consider their program diversity. Content and social publishers are expected to grow their click percentages 15-35% this holiday season (CJ Holiday Intelligence Report).
Capitalize with Omni-channel Offer
In response to the excitement that Amazon Prime Day created, many retailers joined in by offering exclusive deals. In recent years retailers have been releasing early Black Friday deals, but it has not replaced the importance of Black Friday, Cyber Monday, or Green Monday shopping peaks. Holiday plans should include all digital markets from AdWords Shopping and Display Ads to Email Marketing. It is important to make sure that your products stand out from the crowd.
Brace for E-Commerce Growth
In the 2016 holiday shopping season, foot traffic was down 12.3%. The 2017 season is predicted to continue the increase in ecommerce shopping over in-store purchases. eMarketer expects that while total retail growth will only increase by 2%, ecommerce will grow 15.8%.
Now is the time to start planning for growing your digital marketing plans to increase your retail sales in 2017. Contact Informatics today to learn more about our proven results in Email, Social, Affiliate and Search Engine Marketing channels.
