Holiday Shoppers Want Deals Even More Than They Did Last Year

Google has used its Insights for Search tool to provide some data about consumers' searching behavior when it comes to things like discounts, free shipping for the holidays, coupons, and promotional codes.

Unsurprisingly, there is an uptick in searches for all of these things, indicating that this is the stuff consumers are after for their holiday shopping. Such data serves as a great indicator that e-commerce businesses should be providing this stuff if at all possible. Without such deals, online businesses stand to lose out on sales to competitors that do offer them.

According to Google, 87% of consumers plan to take advantage of price discounts or sales this holiday season and 73% plan to take advantage of free shipping.

"Though not all retailers offer free shipping, discounts, or other rebates, know that these value propositions resonate with consumers so begin thinking about how your company or product is providing value and incorporate that messaging into your online marketing campaigns," says Eric Lopez of Google's Retail team. "Consumers are eagerly looking for a reason to buy from you."

Searches for coupons have been growing this year, even more so than last year when the recession was at its worst level. According to Google, 68% of consumers report that they plan on taking advantage of coupons this season. The same goes for promotional codes, which has increased (as a query) by as much as 55% year-over-year.

"With growing interest, ensure you are advertising your coupons, coupon codes, and promo codes to capture increased search volume," says Lopez.

Google's data reflects that of Deloitte's, which found that about a quarter of consumers will shop primarily online this year and many are using the Internet to find special offers, with 44% expecting to use a coupon they get online.

In fact, that study had a lot of interesting statistics that online retailers may want to consider before it's too late. Read here.

Have You Read This?

> Holiday Shoppers Turning To Social Media And Internet

> Google Gears Up For The Holidays

> More People Plan To Shop Online During The Holidays

Holiday Shoppers Turning To Social Media And Internet

Digital technologies continue to drive a new approach to shopping, with social media and mobile phones becoming key influencers this holiday season, according to a new survey of holiday retail spending and trends by Deloitte.

Social media is gaining traction with 17 percent of consumers planning to use social media during their holiday shopping, and 60 percent plan to use it to find discounts, coupons and sales information, More than half (53%) plans to use social media to research gift ideas, while 52 percent plan to check the gift wish lists of friends and family.

Consumers in all age groups plan to embrace social media over the holidays. While more than half (52%) of those who expect to use social media during the shopping process are in the 18-29 years old age group, 33 percent are in the 30-44 years old age group and 12 percent are in the 45-60 years old age group.

The mobile phone is another digital tool for the holidays that is on track to be used by 19 percent of consumers to help with their holiday shopping. Those consumers plan to find store locations (55%), research prices (45%), find product information (40%), get discounts and coupons (32%) and read reviews (31%). A quarter plan to make a holiday purchase with their phone.

The Internet ranks as a top shopping destination and continues to see steady growth. Nearly a quarter (22%) of consumers indicate they will shop primarily online this year and many are using the Internet to find special offers, with 44 percent of shoppers expecting to use a coupon they get online.

Reviews have become another key online source of information, with 39 percent of consumers indicating they often read consumer-generated reviews of stores or products online, and one-quarter (25 percent) saying they will likely purchase a product this holiday season based on an online recommendation. More than a third (34 percent) say that online consumer reviews and ratings influence their buying decisions more than advertising.

"Consumers are turning to mobile, online and social media during their entire holiday shopping experience," said Stacy Janiak, vice chairman and Deloitte's U.S. Retail leader. "Retailers should consider harnessing this activity to turn browsers into buyers with one-click access to coupons, promotions and purchasing tools."

"This year's leaner in-store inventories may also open the door for retailers to lure customers to their online channels where it is easier to access inventory, no matter where it is located."

The Internet is also changing the traditional store-based purchase process. Almost half of consumers (48%) say they like the convenience of shopping with multi-channel retailers, and 78 percent indicate they have purchased an item in a retailer's store after viewing or researching the product online. In addition 65 percent have done the opposite and purchased an item on retailer's website after viewing it in the store or catalog.

Have You Read This?

>Online Retailers To Have Better Holiday Season

>Amazon And Walmart Engage In Price War Over Holiday Book Shoppers

>Consumer Online Spending To Grow 24%

 

Most Enterprises Taking Social Media Seriously

Deloitte, Beeline Labs and the Society for New Communications Research have released findings from a study of companies sponsoring online communities. The study found that enterprises are continuing to invest in social media tools and online communities.

Specifically, 94% of the respondents indicated that they plan to maintain or increase investment in their communities. Only 6% intend to decrease investment. Even still, the report says companies are continuing to struggle with harnessing the full potential of social media, even though they are using the tools to engage with customers, partners, and employees for brand discussion and idea generation.

"Despite risks associated with participating in online communities, the internal costs of community formation and management and the fact that we are in the midst of a profound recession, organizations' continued and enhanced investment in online communities underscores the perceived potential for the value that they may provide to the enterprise," said Ed Moran, director of product innovation, Deloitte Services LP.

"Social media and communities are expected to continue to play a significant role in the way in which companies are interacting with employees, customers, partners and the larger business ecosystem, thereby redefining the very edge of the corporation," added Moran.

The top business objectives for social media as cited by respondents are as follows:

- word-of-mouth - 38%
- customer loyalty - 34%
- brand awareness - 30%
- idea generation - 29%
- improved customer support quality (23%)

According to the report, for most companies, marketing is the primary driver of social media use, and this results in a big gap between goals and organizations' "capability to fully leverage" the communities on an enterprise-wide basis.

"While we are seeing signs of maturation in this year's study, there are still plenty of companies who do not realize the power of communities, and others who have not yet figured out the proper approach for leveraging communities as part of their business," said Francois Gossieaux, partner with Beeline Labs and a senior fellow with the Society of New Communications Research. "Businesses are truly become social again, and companies should look to leverage the collective wisdom of their employees, customers and partners in order to innovate faster, reduce costs, and bolster their bottom lines."

The report suggests that there is an evolution taking place in how enterprises are tracking and engaging with both active and inactive members of their communities. Over 32% of respondents capture data on how people are getting value from the community.

20% have formal "ambassador" programs, giving outsiders preferential treatment in return for being more active in the community. About 40% said that more full-time people were being deployed to manage communities.

Additional findings from the study can be found here. One section of the report discusses obstacles of successful community creation and the gaps between goals and measurement.

Royal Opera House To Create Twitter Opera

The Royal Opera House in London is asking Twitter users to help it create the world’s first online opera.

Twitter users can search for @youropera and add their tweets to the opera storyline.

“It’s the people’ opera and the perfect way for everyone to become involved with the inventiveness of opera as the ultimate from of storytelling,” said Alison Duthie, Head of ROH2, the arm of the Royal Opera House in charge of creating original projects.

“Expect the unexpected. Who knows how the story will evolve, but get tweeting and you can play your part in your opera.”

The tweets will be set to original music by composer Helen Porter along with some familiar opera pieces.

Excerpts will be performed at the Royal Opera House as part of the Deloitte Ignite festival in September.

The Twitter opera is part of an ongoing dialogue with the Royal Opera House’s followers on Twitter.

The Royal Opera House has more than 18,000 Facebook friends and more than 2,000 followers on Twitter.

You can read line-by-line opera tweets here.

Screenshots were not available at the time of this post. Twitter appears to be down.

 

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