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Report: E-tailers promoting holiday early

October 04, 2006

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Washington, D.C.—The days when holiday-shopping hysteria hit on Black Friday are long gone—at least in the cyber age—as online retailers plan to start promoting early, according to the 2006 eHoliday Mood Survey.

The research, conducted by BizRate Research for Shopzilla and Shop.org, reports 38.5 percent of multichannel retailers plan to start holiday marketing earlier this year versus last year, and more than half (62.5 percent) will begin promotions by Nov. 4.

That's in line with consumer preferences, with one in five (19.8 percent) of online shoppers saying they will shop for gifts earlier this year, and 34.9 percent indicating Halloween as their holiday shopping kick-off date.

"Due to shipping deadlines, online retailers have a shorter promotional window for the holiday season, so many of them want to be first out of the gate to debut holiday merchandise," said Scott Silverman, executive director of Shop.org, in a statement. "Multichannel retailers are very good at responding to what their customers want, and this year, customers want to start shopping early."

Because a majority of shoppers (74.9 percent) list free-shipping offers as one of the most important factors in deciding whether or not to buy online, an increasing number of retailers (83 percent this year, compared to 64 percent two years ago) will offer shipping promotions. Many will also add early-shopper and first-time-buyer discounts.

Of course, all of these on-site deals won't matter if consumers don't make it to the Web sites. That's why most online retailers (97.4 percent) will invest in search-engine marketing, and another 73.1 percent will use comparison-shopping engines. Unconventional marketing tools—such as blogs or RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds—will be used by 41.6 percent of retailers, while 79.5 percent plan to incorporate viral marketing. To catch consumers offline, retailers plan to invest in traditional media, including newspapers (44 percent), magazines (52 percent), radio (31.6 percent) and television (26.3 percent).

"Online shoppers have become more diverse than ever in terms of when and how they shop, so retailers must market to the masses this year," said Helen Malani, Shopzilla's chief shopping expert.

Overall, companies are optimistic about the coming season, with one in five (20.5 percent) expecting growth of 75 percent or more over last holiday season. Another 29.5 percent expect strong growth (from 30 percent to 74 percent), and 21.8 percent project growth between 15 percent and 29 percent.
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