Black Friday 2009 vs. 2008

A visual overview of the top 100 e-retailers this year vs. last year.

(Warning : Black Friday 2009 and 2008 link is a 38 MB PowerPoint File of 200 Screenshots)

No time to do some of the analysis from last year. See these other posts:

What Did They Do Last Year? 2008 Holiday SwipeFile

Cyber Monday Best Practices - 2008 vs. 2007

Cyber Monday & Black Friday Roundup

Review Your Competitors 2007 Holiday Strategies

I've been on summer holiday, and haven't posted for quite a while. As the holiday season ramps up, I plan to get back to posting every week or so.

For those of you who are interested, I'm making available a piece of our website archive that supports this blog.

As the holiday season approaches, I imagine you have a lot of planning activities going on. An important foundation to this planning is competitive analysis. I believe I can help enhance your planning by giving you insight into your competitors’ web sites from last year’s holiday season.

As part of my software company, DragonVista, I have a compiled an archive of the Top 500 Internet Retailer home pages for the past two years. My gift to you is a 2007 Holiday Snapshot for one of your competitors. Click on Macys-Holiday-Snapshot-2007 for a sample. If you are interested, simply let me know the name of the website you would like to see. If it is in the archive, I will send you a Holiday Snapshot for free.

A review of your competitor's website from Holiday 2007 can provide

- insight into promotion strategies (e.g., when did they start to offer free shipping, and at what threshold?)
- information on their changing merchandising
- inspiration for new ideas of your own

If you are interested in your custom snapshot, just write to me via the "Suggest a Topic" box on the right. Please include the URL of the site you are interested in and your email address so I can send the Snapshot to you.

Emails Create Urgency with Shipping Deadlines

Sunday I wrote about the need to post clear shipping deadlines on retail websites in my post Make It Easy for Procrastinators. Today my focus in on emails & how they can create urgency for the last minute shopper.

Quick Takeaways:

• Avon thinks you can tell them twice.
• HP thinks email subscribers care about shipping deadlines, but their typical web visitors do not.
• Other samples (to stimulate your ideas) include Illuminations, Eddie Bauer, Pottery Barn and Coldwater Creek.
  

Yesterday, Avon sent me an email with the subject
It's our LAST DAY of Guaranteed Christmas Delivery + FREE SHIPPING

where they body copy confirms that Monday was the last day. {See email below, click the image to enlarge.}




Then they sent me one this morning with the subject line
LAST CHANCE: We'll Get it There on Time...ends 12/18


HP did a nice email with the subject line
Last Chance to Get Pre-Built HP Desktops by December 24
in the body copy they inform me that I must order by 11 AM PST on Saturday the 22nd. There is also a banner at the bottom telling me "We can get it there!" Clearly the email team at HP thinks this is important information, but if you arrive at the HP website directly, you find a minuscule link at the top called "Holiday policies". If you click, you can get shipping deadline information.

HP Email 12/17/07



HP Website 12/17/07



A couple of other examples of emails with shipping deadline calls to action are

Illuminations 12/17/07
Subject: $5 Express Shipping - Through Wednesday Only!


Eddie Bauer 12/17/07
Subject: Free Shipping- guaranteed to arrive by 12/24


Pottery Barn 12/17/07
Subject: Last Minute Gift Savings + Holiday Specials


Coldwater Creek 12/18/07
Subject: Free Shipping ends TONIGHT! No minimum purchase required
This one combines "order now for free shipping" with "if you are really lazy and want to wait until the last minute, you have up until 12/22"


See also Chad White of the EEC's post
RetailEmail.Blogspot: AM Inbox: Making shipping deadlines clear