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Black Friday Online Sales Up 24% Over Last Year

posted on November 28, 2011

Another Black Friday is over and in the books and it looks like a good time was had by most.

IBM Coremetrics estimates a 24.3% increase in online sales over last year. As you can see from this chart, midnight was the magic hour with a nice spike over the last two years. This is likely due to the fact that many major chains made holiday prices effective at midnight online as well as in stores.

Sales peak in morning then slowly taper off, but still 2011 stayed well above the numbers from previous years with slight exceptions. (Can anyone account for that crazy early morning spike in 2009?)

Breaking it down by category, Department Store online sales were up 59%. Home Goods was up 48.8% and Apparel was up 47.2%. I like those numbers.

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Cup of Joe: Today is Thanksgiving! And So Is Tomorrow!

posted on November 26, 2011

Thank YouYay! Today is Thanksgiving! FEED ME TURKEY!

Ok so I know what you are thinking, Um Joe, Thanksgiving was two days ago! But, you are wrong, and in this post I am going to prove it to you. Your thanksgiving may have been two days ago, but mine is today. You see, in my family we all have different places to go on Thanksgiving which means that usually we end up celebrating together on the Saturday after. I know it sounds crazy, but if you have ever met any of my family, you would see that crazy works for us! :)

Oh, and tomorrow is Thanksgiving as well! YAY More turkey! And the day after that, more Thanksgiving! In fact I am not going to stop with Thanksgiving! I am not sure how long the turkey will last, but I guess I can always buy more.

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Small Business Saturday Gets White House Support

posted on November 25, 2011

In the weeks leading up to Black Friday, it’s mostly the big brands that get all the attention. This year, though, American Express wants people to think about the small businesses, too. They’ve christened November 26, Small Business Saturday and the idea has truly taken hold.

The base of operations is the SBS Facebook page. Here, merchants can download signage, get e-marketing ideas and learn new ways to promote your business.

If you accept American Express, you can also promote a special offer through the Go Social program.

For their part, American Express is encouraging shoppers to go local with credits for qualifying purchases, a directory of local businesses by zip code and the Shop Small Facebook pledge.

So far 2,557,876 people have “liked” the page.

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A Banner Day for Black Friday Retailers

posted on November 25, 2011

This year, Black Friday began earlier than usual with many chains opening on Thanksgiving and even more starting as early as midnight instead of the usual 4 or 6 am on Friday.

Toys R Us cashiers can take comfort in knowing they’re not the only ones slogging through the holiday madness. The folks at IBM Coremetrics are at their desks, turning out data as fast as they can.

So far, they say this Thanksgiving 2011sales were up 39% over last year and that it was a “banner shopping day” for online retailers.

Mobile traffic to online retail sites was also good with 15.2% of consumers using a device to log-on. That’s up 6.45% from 2010.

11.09% represents the number of folks using their mobile device to actually buy items and that’s also up from 4.25% in 2010.

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Is Yelp More Than Just Restaurant Reviews?

posted on November 25, 2011

Look I will be the first to admit today is a very slow news day.

That’s why we are sharing this bit of data from Yelp which obviously is trying to let people know that it’s more than just a restaurant review site.

This kind of “re-imagining” of a brand is something that is difficult in the Internet age. Yelp has allowed its users to define it and many have decided that Yelp is their home for reviewing restaurants. In order for the company to grow though it will need to have a broader reach.

How do you use Yelp? Is it a place where you review everything or has it been painted into a corner by being only for a certain segment of your life?

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Google+ TV Ad Runs But Will People Get It?

posted on November 25, 2011

Google ran a TV ad on Thanksgiving during the early NFL game. I missed it live (which means I wasn’t paying close attention to the game, huh?).

My question is whether the regular Thanksgiving Day football viewer will understand an ad with the tagline “Sharing but like real life. That’s a plus.” Will they get what it does? I doubt it.

Here’s the ad. What’s your take?

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Happy Thanksgiving from the Folks at Marketing Pilgrim

posted on November 24, 2011

We hold Thanksgiving near and dear to our hearts here at Marketing Pilgrim (considering our name and all).

We also have a lot to be thankful for not the least of which is you, our readers.

Thanks for your support. We hope that you have a blessed Thanksgiving Day (for our US readers in particular) and we look forward to the future with you.

Thanks!