10 LAST-MINUTEHOLIDAY TIPSFOR RETAILMARKETERSKEVIN LEEOriginal article appeared on CMO.com

G e t y o u r h o l i d a yo f f e r s r e a d yq u i c k l y . 01

According to Google, "61% of shoppers willhave already started researching productsbefore Thanksgiving, up 17% from last year."That data is consistent with data from theNational Retail Federation (NRF), which foundthat "85% of shoppers expect holidaypromotions to begin prior to Black Friday, withmore than half saying they expect to see theseoffers in the marketplace prior to October."

If you want your site and products on shoppinglists, consider a more aggressive media ROItarget in the month leading up to the lastholiday shopping days.

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If a big chunk of your saleshappen online, make sure youhighlight free shipping, if youoffer it, in your online ads. TheNRF observed that free shippingoffers have strong appeal to 93%of online shoppers, followed bybuy-it-online/store-pick upoffers (46%).

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Adobe Digital Index (ADI) predictsmobile—smartphones and tablets—willplay a bigger role than ever this holiday-shopping season, particularly onThanksgiving, with 51% of onlineshopping activity occurring that day. ADIalso found that during peak periods, suchas holiday shopping, the proportion ofmobile traffic to specific sites oftensurpassed 70%.

Obviously, e-retailers need to deploy fast,mobile-friendly product pages or be left inthe dust this season.

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ADI found that 71% ofsmartphone users plan toshowroom during the holidays.Several apps can facilitate thisprocess for consumers. Youcan't stop this trend, so whynot ride it by leveraging "wewill beat any price anywherein-store” offers?"

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The only thing worse thanhaving your server knockedoff line by heavy holidayshopping traffic is finding ithas been hacked, the way thatTarget's was in 2013,creating both a PR nightmareand a $10 million liability.Treat cybersecurity asseriously as you do warehousesecurity.

S h i n e o n S u n d a y .06Data from Google search hasshown that mobile shoppingsearches are 17% higher onSunday than any other day of theweek. If you're buying search ads,consider doubling down on Sundayand moving budget away from lessbusy days. Even though Googlead cost per click grew on Sundays,the cost increase was not nearlyas high as the increase in click-through rates.

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U s e i n - s t o r e r e b a t e st o d r i v e t r a f f i c .07

According to the NRF, "44percent of shoppers surveyedwould be motivated to shop in-store if they could get moneyback on their purchases."Consider making use of cashrebates to drive store traffic.

W r a p u p s a l e s .08Twenty-four percent ofshoppers polled by the NRFreport that in-store gift-wrapping services willencourage them to visit aretailer's store, so promoteyour wrapping services andother in-store perks ifyou've got them.

L e v e r a g e " u n b o x i n g "v i d e o s .09

Unboxing videos (videos that depictproducts being opened, installed, andoperated) are surging in popularity,according to Google, which recorded 1.1billion YouTube views for them so far in2015. A recent survey reported byClickZ found that some retailers, such asToys “R” Us, have incorporatedunboxing videos into their holidaymarketing. It’s not too late to considerusing this form of video to buildexcitement for hot products you'll bepromoting this season.

L i s t e n t o t h e m u s i c .10Needless to say, the closer it gets toChristmas, the worse the crowds are instores. The quality of in-store musiccan make a difference. According to aRetailMeNot survey, 16% of shopperspolled said that "good holiday music"makes a difference in their purchasingbehavior. Don’t play the same music ifyour target market is Millennials thatyou’d play for Baby Boomers; thinkabout your target market and choosethe music accordingly.

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