recipes for holiday marketing success

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© 2013 Experian Information Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved. Experian and the marks used herein are service marks or registered trademarks of

Experian Information Solutions, Inc. Other product and company names mentioned herein are the trademarks of their respective owners.

No part of this copyrighted work may be reproduced, modified, or distributed in any form or manner without the prior written permission of Experian.

Experian Public.

Recipes for Holiday Marketing Success

Heather Dougherty, Research Director

Elaine Yavorcik, Client Partner, Strategic Accounts

April 30, 2014

#HolidayMarketing

Follow us at

@ExperianMkt

2 © 2013 Experian Information Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved.

Experian Public. 2 © 2013 Experian Information Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved.

Experian Public.

#HolidayMarketing

Elaine Yavorcik

Client Partner, Strategic Accounts for Cross-Channel Marketing

Introducing our holiday experts

GM of Global Research

Experian Marketing Service

@billtancer

Holiday webinar agenda:

• Roundup of holiday marketing

results from 2013

• Top performing holiday email

and mobile offers

• Behavior of deal seekers

• Tips to implement cross-channel

marketing campaigns

• Conclusion

Heather Dougherty

Director of Research, Consumer Insights



Experian Public.

#HolidayMarketing

2013 Peak Holiday Shopping Days

1. Cyber Monday 12/2

2. Black Friday 11/29

3. Thanksgiving 11/28

4. Day After Cyber Monday 12/3

5. Day Before Thanksgiving 11/27

6. Saturday of Thanksgiving Weekend 11/30

7. Sunday of Thanksgiving Weekend 12/1

8. Day After Christmas (Boxing Day) 12/26

9. 2nd Monday Following Cyber Monday 12/16

10.1st Monday Following Cyber Monday 12/9

Peak online shopping days

Thanksgiving Black Friday

Cyber Monday



Experian Public.

#HolidayMarketing

Thanksgiving

30%: Department Stores

9% Apparel & Accessories

8% Appliances & Electronics

7% Computers

5% Video & Games

5% House & Garden

4% Sports & Fitness

3% Toys & Hobbies

2% Health & Beauty

Black Friday




6% Computers

6% House & Garden

5% Video & Games

4% Sports & Fitness

3% Toys & Hobbies

2% Health & Beauty

Cyber Monday




6% House & Garden

5% Computers

5% Sports & Fitness

4% Video & Games

3% Toys & Hobbies

2% Health & Beauty

Top product categories online by key shopping days



Experian Public.

#HolidayMarketing

Opportunities to influence shoppers before and during their shopping trips

What best describes how you shopped on Black Friday?

25%

34%

41%

Unplanned

purchases

only

Planned

purchases

only

Planned and

unplanned

purchases

Source: Research Now & Experian Hitwise Tracking the Footprint of the Digital Shopper – Holiday 2013

7%

6%

10%

24%

15%

5%

6%

7%

9%

13%

19%

Flowers & smallgifts

Video games

Home & garden

Toys & hobbies

Appliances &electronics

Apparel &accessories

Planned purchase

Unplanned purchase



Experian Public.

#HolidayMarketing

Store openings on Thanksgiving drove increased email activity

Search – Black

Friday

Email –

Thanksgiving

Social Networks

– Black Friday

Rewards &

Directories –

Cyber Monday

Peak Days by Channel

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

Sh

are

of

Do

wn

str

eam

Tra

ffic

Downstream Traffic to Hitwise Retail 500

Search Engines Social Networking & Forums

Email Services Rewards & Directories



Experian Public.

#HolidayMarketing

Increased social traffic to retailers

8% of upstream traffic to retail

websites was from social

networks during the

holiday shopping season

+42% increase in social traffic

compared to last year

Based Upon a 7 Week Average During the Holiday Season



Experian Public.

#HolidayMarketing

Growth across all major social networks to retail websites

Tumblr

Instagram

Google+

Twitter

Pinterest

YouTube

Facebook 5.2%

1.7%

+39%

+66%

+12%

+27%

+136%

+226%

+88%

Based Upon a 7 Week Average During the Holiday Season



Experian Public.

#HolidayMarketing

Hollister leveraged YouTube to promote Thanksgiving store openings & sale

YouTube was the top source of

traffic to Hollister.com on

Thanksgiving at 39%

Ranked #1 in the Apparel

category on Thanksgiving &

Black Friday (up from #14)

74% of the traffic from YouTube

was from new visitors on

Thanksgiving

Ranked #18 among all

downstream websites to receive

traffic from YouTube



Experian Public.

#HolidayMarketing

Visual social networks were a key traffic driver for Forever 21 during holidays

Instagram

• Upstream traffic +132% YoY

• 27% of visitors were new to

Forever21.com in December

Polyvore

• Ranked #1 among Reward & Directories

sending traffic to Forever 21

• Upstream traffic +22% YoY

• 56% of visitors were new in Dec 2013

Pinterest

• Ranked 4th among social channels

• 39% of visitors were new to

Forever21.com in December

11 11

Deal Seekers



Experian Public.

#HolidayMarketing

Holiday season even Scrooge would love



Experian Public.

#HolidayMarketing

18% 13% 14% 12% 34% 8%

Deal Thrillers

Always seeking the

best deal, but prefer

offers from their

favorite stores

Deal-Seeker

Influentials

Always seeking

the best deal

online, offline and

mobile

The deal-seeking continuum

Offline Deal

Seekers

Avid deal seekers

through more

traditional media

Deal Takers

While not actively

seeking a deal, they

will take one when

offered and even shop

a new store to get one

Deal Indifferents

Lacking in shopping

enthusiasm in general,

Deal Indifferents are

unlikely to change their

behavior because of a deal

Deal Rejectors

The most deal-

averse group, they

want convenience

overall

Deal seeking Deal rejecting



Experian Public.

#HolidayMarketing

Online

Shoppers

Social

Media Users

Smartphone

Users

Tablet

Users

Deal-Seeker

Influentials 142 127 133 159

Offline Deal

Seekers 71 77 66 54

Deal

Thrillers 99 94 98 96

Deal Takers 117 109 111 113 Deal

Indifferents 91 100 102 91

Deal

Rejectors 87 86 80 71

Deal seeker influentials & deal takers most active with digital channels



Experian Public.

#HolidayMarketing

Deal seeking influentials purchase variety of products online

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%

Housewares

Cosmetics

Sporting Goods & Equipment

Footwear

Computer Products

Electronics & Appliances

Men's Apparel

Toys & Games

Accessories

Women's Apparel

Books, Music & Video

Deal Takers Deal-Seeking Influentials Total



Experian Public.

#HolidayMarketing

Deal-seeking influentials – younger, affluent and trusts info from social media

• Average age of 40

• 41% are between 18 & 34 years old

• Average income is $95k

• 23% hold a college degree & 13% hold a

graduate degree

• 65% are employed full-time

• 143% more likely to trust product info from

social networking websites than other

sources

• 135% more likely to purchase products

used or recommended by friends on

social networking websites

• 134% more likely to sometimes post

ratings & reviews for others to read



Experian Public.

#HolidayMarketing

Deal takers – affluent and influenced by others through social media

• Average age of 46

• 37% are between 35 & 55 years old

• Average income is $94k

• 35% hold a college degree

• 62% are employed full-time

• 31% more likely to click on links or items

posted by others on social networks

• 27% more likely to buy products from

stores that don’t specialize in those

products because of price

• 26% are more likely to buy an item on the

spur of the moment when in a store



Experian Public.

#HolidayMarketing

Holiday email frequency 2013 study of 55 multi-channel retailers

On average, retailers sent more email messages per week in 2013 24%

0.00

1.00

2.00

3.00

4.00

5.00

6.00

7.00

8.00

9.00

Average emails per week per brand

2012 2013

- Experian Marketing Services



Experian Public.

#HolidayMarketing

Top 10 transaction days – shopping started early

Event Day Transaction rank Volume rank

Cyber Monday Monday 1 1

Black Friday Friday 2 2

Thanksgiving Thursday 3 3

Sunday after Black Friday Sunday 4 9

November 15 Friday 5 19

Day before Thanksgiving Wednesday 6 10

November 8 Friday 7 35

Twelve days until Christmas Friday 8 5

Day after Cyber Monday Tuesday 9 14

Seven days until Christmas Wednesday 10 7


up from #49

in 2012



Experian Public.

#HolidayMarketing

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

50%

12AM - 4AM 4AM - 8AM 8AM - 12PM 12PM - 4PM 4PM - 8PM 8PM - 12AM

Percentage of total mailings sent by time

2012 2013

Time of day shift 2013 study of 55 multi-channel retailers




Experian Public.

#HolidayMarketing

What times were most effective? 2013 study of 55 multi-channel retailers

12AM - 4AM 4AM - 8AM 8AM - 12PM 12PM - 4PM 4PM - 8PM 8PM - 12AM

Revenueper Email

$0.139 $0.126 $0.074 $0.076 $0.086 $0.153

Messages 30 579 1,154 401 188 129

-

200

400

600

800

1,000

1,200

1,400

$0.000

$0.020

$0.040

$0.060

$0.080

$0.100

$0.120

$0.140

$0.160

$0.180




Experian Public.

#HolidayMarketing

The impact of free shipping

http://ebm.neimanmarcusemail.com/c/tag/hBSSqtPAB8$L1B81fGVNsnKA2.AJLRQVcm/doc.html



Experian Public.

#HolidayMarketing

The impact of free shipping on transaction rate 2013 study of 55 multi-channel retailers

0.0%

0.5%

1.0%

1.5%

2.0%

2.5%

3.0%

3.5%

4.0%

4.5%

5.0%

No W/ Qualifier Yes

Tra

nsa

cti

on

Ra

te

72% better




Experian Public.

#HolidayMarketing

The impact of free shipping on revenue per email 2013 study of 55 multi-channel retailers

53.3%

35.8%

0.0% 10.0% 20.0% 30.0% 40.0% 50.0% 60.0%

Yes

W/ Qualifier

Percent greater than paid shipping




Experian Public.

#HolidayMarketing

Mentioning the offer in the subject line helps boost response




Experian Public.

#HolidayMarketing

Deep discounts (50 percent or more) peak in December

End of season trend:

From Christmas Day through December 31st,

65% of percent off campaigns had deep

discount offers.


Mobile



Experian Public.

#HolidayMarketing

More than half of email opens occurred on mobile devices during the holiday season

All

industry:

52% on

mobile

Catalogers: 59%

Media & entertainment:

58%

Consumer products &

services: 62%

Multi-channel retailers:

65%




Experian Public.

#HolidayMarketing

Mobile opens peak during the holidays

Mobile

47%

Desktop

28%

Webmail

25%

- Litmus

Cross-channel movement



Experian Public.

#HolidayMarketing

American Eagle’s Legendary Gifts Sweepstakes Cross-channel holiday campaign

12 days of special gifts

Users could text LEGENDARY to 32453

(EAGLE) or visit ae.com/legendary to sign

up for daily emails and text messages

about 12 legendary prizes

Campaign ran from Dec. 3-14, 2013



Experian Public.

#HolidayMarketing

American Eagle’s Legendary Gifts Sweepstakes In-store Signage



Experian Public.

#HolidayMarketing

American Eagle’s Legendary Gifts Sweepstakes Direct mail



Experian Public.

#HolidayMarketing

American Eagle’s Legendary Gifts Sweepstakes Channel Engagement

Users would click

either from email

or SMS to see if

they won that

day’s prize



Experian Public.

#HolidayMarketing

American Eagle’s Legendary Gifts Sweepstakes Legendary Gone Viral



Experian Public.

#HolidayMarketing

Email social focus

http://ebm.news.saks.com/c/tag/hBSq2dTAdIUrHB83JsZNslA6S.B8fxtrfH/doc.html



Experian Public.

#HolidayMarketing

Our stores are glowing; stop by & warm up! [Anthropologie]

Hurry in-store for last-minute gifts they'll love! [Macy’s]

Drop in for Last-Minute Gifts, Stocking Stuffers & More [Sur La Table]

Visit Tiffany & Co. for Last-minute Brilliance [Tiffany & Co.]

Don't Worry. Urban Outfitters is open. Get to a store now! [Urban Outfitters]

Email in-store focus



Experian Public.

#HolidayMarketing

Testing new ways to drive in-store traffic

Subject line: Grab a Snack, Get $5 Off!

The Banana Republic Factory Store offers subscribers $5 off an in-store purchase for showing this email along with any food or drink receipt

Bring your coffee receipt (Black Friday?)

Show us your picture with Santa

Wear an ugly holiday sweater

http://view.email.bananarepublic.com/?j=fec9117477620579&m=fea013707564037c75&ls=fe5b1676716c0d7b7515&l=ff66107575&s=fe5816767160017a7c16&jb=ff3915717560&ju=fe5e1675716c057c7d10&r=0



Experian Public.

#HolidayMarketing

Email mobile focus

http://view.tommyhilfiger-email.com/?j=fe9a10737164067876&m=fe9c15707566027c7c&ls=fdf517767567037475137072&l=fed0157270660579&s=fe2d17757063047e701270&jb=ffcf14&ju=fe661175746004787115&et_cid=4340253&et_rid=355703560&r=0

http://ebm.cheetahmail.com/c/tag/hBSkJjEBdYR8vB82rtcNs06lPbo/doc.html

http://ebm.cheetahmail.com/c/tag/hBSlhcDAwP--EB82tb7NsrdeX.BA$12m1M/doc.html

http://ebm.cheetahmail.com/c/tag/hBSlgqPA-QL1tB82vsbNsieJ7zF/doc.html



Experian Public.

#HolidayMarketing

Plan promotional activity around the entire Thanksgiving weekend since there is significant interest in shopping throughout

Take advantage of the opportunity to drive unplanned purchases, especially in the apparel, electronics & toy categories

Leverage visual social networks to support the merchandising of key holiday products and promotions

Consider later afternoon/evening email sends to stand out in the inbox and capture your mobile audience

Highlight free shipping promotions in email to boost transaction rates and revenue per email

Key Takeaways



Experian Public.

#HolidayMarketing

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