"For many larger retailers, Black Friday—the traditional start to holiday shopping on the day after Thanksgiving—is beginning to stretch into a full week with preliminary promotions..."If you're interested in the industry's analysis, it's definitely worth the few minutes it takes to read the full article.
Showing posts with label Personal POV. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Personal POV. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
'Tis the Season
Coincidence or synchronicity? Less than an hour after I published the previous post, I received Internet Retailer's email newsletter that included an article on Holiday eCommerce .
Bah, Humbug!
I can't believe I'm writing this post before Thanksgiving! I already have a monumental case of holiday email marketing fatigue.
My inbox is already so crowded with Black Friday promotions, it takes me twice as long to get through it. Lord only knows what I'll face over the weekend, when companies ramp up with Cyber Monday offers.
And I'm just talking email. Mobile alerts? I'm going to need a flak jacket.
The conundrum
On one hand, real-time offers are great. On the other hand, way too many businesses still don't do enough segmentation (matching specific offers to specific recipients) or any at all - so the relevancy of those real-time offers can be pretty low.
According to Pew Research, as of May 2010, 94% of all internet users sent or read email online and 72% bought products online. So far this season, some companies are already behaving as if capturing the sales of the 22% that forms the gap is life or death. With the economy hurting, companies desperate for revenue are already in bombardment mode. Sophisticated, pretty spam; cheap to send and worth it to them if they just hook a few consumer fish.
We're all becoming pretty adept at scanning through our inboxes to find the things that matter - one person's prize is another one's poison - but it still irks me.
What do you think?
I may already be tired of the onslaught, but what about you?
Do you appreciate a deluge of real-time offers? And even more important, do these offers prompt you to buy? Or has your delete button become a constant, somewhat annoying best friend? What is your experience? Inquiring minds want to know.
My inbox is already so crowded with Black Friday promotions, it takes me twice as long to get through it. Lord only knows what I'll face over the weekend, when companies ramp up with Cyber Monday offers.
And I'm just talking email. Mobile alerts? I'm going to need a flak jacket.
The conundrum
On one hand, real-time offers are great. On the other hand, way too many businesses still don't do enough segmentation (matching specific offers to specific recipients) or any at all - so the relevancy of those real-time offers can be pretty low.
According to Pew Research, as of May 2010, 94% of all internet users sent or read email online and 72% bought products online. So far this season, some companies are already behaving as if capturing the sales of the 22% that forms the gap is life or death. With the economy hurting, companies desperate for revenue are already in bombardment mode. Sophisticated, pretty spam; cheap to send and worth it to them if they just hook a few consumer fish.
We're all becoming pretty adept at scanning through our inboxes to find the things that matter - one person's prize is another one's poison - but it still irks me.
What do you think?
I may already be tired of the onslaught, but what about you?
Do you appreciate a deluge of real-time offers? And even more important, do these offers prompt you to buy? Or has your delete button become a constant, somewhat annoying best friend? What is your experience? Inquiring minds want to know.
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