Collect your Coupons: Black Friday 2012

Ever wonder when the best days to go holiday shopping are? What about what retail categories are going to do well this year? All this and more in our conversations with SBC’s retail experts. Check back often for more.

Becky Ziegler, VP/Account Director

How is the idea of Black Friday changing for consumers? For retailers?

As retailers continue to move their store opening hours up to Thanksgiving Day, the significance of a traditional Black Friday retail model will become less and less important. More consumers are shopping online (post-pie shopping!) and using retail stores to showroom rather than purchase. It’s still an important retail day but not nearly as important as five years ago. Consumers are getting much more sophisticated and they know and even talk about “showroom shopping.” 

Sam Eubank, Senior Manager, Interactive Account Services

 

What is the most effective reoccurring marketing strategy for the holidays? Who uses it? Why?

I think that Toys “R” Us has done a great job of elevating their presence during the holiday season year after year. While they have maintained tradition by continuing to distribute their “Great Big Toys "R" Us Book” that both children and adults look forward to, they have also done an excellent job of building a super integrated approach to their holiday marketing. In 2011, they had a robust holiday email program, complete with special offers personalized for their Rewards members. This year, they've already taken the lead on kicking off the holiday season by launching a TV spot promoting their holiday layaway program and also by beginning to promote their super successful Marine Toys for Tots program for the ninth year in a row. They've turned this into a fully-integrated campaign that taps into the generosity of the holiday season by intersecting with shoppers through different channels along their holiday shopping journey (in-store, online, viral videos, social media, etc.). They definitely understand the concept of evolving their brand - that just because something is working year after year (like the Christmas toys catalog) that it’s important to continue to build upon it in order to remain salient in the retail world. 

Matt Wilson, General Manager and Partner

How do you expect Cyber Monday this year to compare to last?

Cyber Monday will continue to be a great day for online retail after returning from Thanksgiving celebrations; we are predicting traffic to increase by 30 percent on the Sunday before and on Cyber Monday. Last year, spending was at $1.25 billion, so we could be looking at over $1.5 billion in sales. And the best bandwidth is at the office, which is prompting many employers (like SBC Advertising) to recognize this trend and offer Cyber Monday amnesty periods during early morning, lunch and end-of-day.