The holiday’s are a time where everyone spends more time at the malls looking for those perfect gifts to get the people in their lives. For marketers, it is a crucial time to ensure that your product is that special gift that everyone wants while ensuring that you can meet the demand.
After the 2011 holiday shopping season, marketers have taken a couple of key insights that need to be kept in mind when planning for the 2012 holiday season.
First and foremost, mobile commerce is huge and it is here to stay, at least until 2012. This December in the US alone, 11% of total sales were made through a mobile device, up over 100% from 2010. As the phones get smarter and more and more people get their hands on them, the simplicity and reach of these devices will only cause this figure to go up in 2012. The Ecommerce Times believe that by 2012, 20% of all sales will be made on a mobile device. Because of this, Marketers should ensure that they are familiar with this form of commerce and have a nice, easy to use design for customers to make purchases and see content when on their mobiles. This is a relatively new thing and if you do not have mobile applications already on your website, now is the time to take advantage of this growing trend.
Another thing that did come as a surprise for me, is the importance of social media marketing, especially during the holiday season. Many companies found that their Facebook pages and Twitter account really helped drive sales and let users see information such as special deals or promotions. It is essential to update these pages and even give your page a festive look to really get users in the mood to spend. As new technologies for social media platforms are popping up, companies and marketers can really see some detailed analytics of their site visitors and should use this to their advantage year-round. Information like what is the busiest time of day for users, where they are shopping and on what devices are they using are all key pieces of information to know for your 2012 holiday marketing strategy.
Although the holidays seem like an eternity right now, especially for me as the workload keeps piling up, now is the time to start planning. It is key to have a fool-proof action plan on how you will market your product come the holiday shopping buzz. An integrated social marketing campaign can do wonders for you and your brand.
Check out the article from the Ecommerce Times which highlights a couple more key tools to remember when creating your 2012 Holiday marketing plan: