After flat in-store sales coupled with strong online results on the Thanksgiving holiday and Cyber Monday, what’s in store for holiday sales? We’ve got the answers just ahead. If you thought holiday sale prices were good, just take a look at some of the cashback offers available on DubLi. According to Shareablee Social Scorecard, Nordstrom, Macy’s and Sephora are dominating social conversations online with Amazon following up a distant fourth during this holiday shopping season. And then there are the other retailers, those that are struggling or close to failing. They include J Crew, Gap, Banana Republic, Fabletics, Dick’s Sporting Goods, American Apparel and others.
Jet.com had a record Cyber Monday with $2.7 million in sales, $33.2 million in October sales and signing its one millionth customer on the heels of a new $500 million Series B financing announced just prior to Thanksgiving. According to Internet Retailer, many major retailers are extending their c and Cyber Monday sales into the remainder of the holiday shopping season.
Holiday shoppers aren’t just buying in the US either. Amazon China said international products proved popular with Chinese consumers on Black Friday with sales up fivefold even beating Singles’ Day sales. Macy’s also reported an increase in international sales in China. Finally, Software AG shares its list of the top 10 disruptive retail trends in 2016 entity include mobile, cloud, analytics and social media merging into a unified platform and the importance of stores becoming highly technology-enabled. Exciting times in retail.
DubLi Holiday Cashback from Walmart, Home Depot and Best Buy
The latest newsletter from international cashback company DubLi should get shoppers attention. In addition to the great seasonal deals happening in stores and online now, DubLi is promoting further cashback offers from just some of its more than 5,000 US and more than 10,000 total merchants internationally. Highlighted cashback deals for members include Walmart (6.6%), Home Depot (7.8%), Best Buy (6.5%), 1-800 Flowers.com (9.6%), and Hotels.com (9.3%). It could be a very Merry Cashback for consumers, especially if they pay it with a cash back credit card in addition. via DubLi
Nordstrom, Macy’s, Sephora Top Holiday Brands on Social
A surprising group of retailers are dominating social media conversations and engagement so far this holiday season, led by Nordstrom, Macy’s and Sephora, according to Shareablee Social Scorecard. Kohl’s came in at a much more distant fourth place, followed by Amazon.
The rankings, which are based on combined analysis of total actions —shares, comments, retweets, and reblogs — on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and You Tube, show an overall 26% increase in engagement and 170% jump in actions this year. This is despite a sharp decrease in posts featuring Black Friday deals, which fell 32% on Facebook and 27% on Twitter. “What really stood out to us this year is the rise of the specialty store, and not so much the mass marketers,” says Shareablee’s founder and CEO, Tania Yuki. “I was expecting to see Walmart and Target ranked much higher, and instead we saw exceptional strength in brands like Nordstrom, Sephora, Barney’s and Neiman Marcus.” Via mediapost.com
Brand that bombed in 2015
Not every retailer had a great 2015. Some brands seriously struggled. These are some brands that did not fare too well — many suffered from low sales and misguided sartorial choices. Some companies filed for bankruptcy.
Here’s hoping 2016 will be better for them including: J Crew, Gap, Banana Republic, Fabletics, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Aeropostale, American Apparel, Sears, Nasty Gal and Quicksilver. Via businessinsider.com
Jet.com’s sales soar on Cyber Monday
The heavily hyped online marketplace had $2.7 million in sales on the Monday after Thanksgiving, its best sales day yet. Cyber Monday wasn’t just a boon for established players in online retail. Even the new kids got in on the fun.
Online marketplace Jet.com, launched in July, reported sales of $2.7 million on the Monday after Thanksgiving, the highest sales day in its brief existence. The two top-selling products included one to be expected and one most certainly not: a PS4 Sony Dualshock 4 controller and Kleenex Ultra facial tissues. Jet’s strong Cyber Monday comes hot on the heels of the company’s $500 million Series B funding round, announced a week before Thanksgiving. Sales reached $33.2 million during October and the company surpassed the 1 million customer mark during the month. Via internetretailer.com
E-retailers jockey for their share of online holiday purchases
Online retailers keep the promotions coming, as they hope to extend big Thanksgiving weekend wins into further online sales growth. The busy holiday shopping season is just getting started. Or so many merchants would have consumers think.
The Thanksgiving weekend was a big weekend online with $11 billion in sales transacted on the web and 15% growth year over year. But as “Cyber Week”—as many merchants call it—closes out, some retailers are saying “this is just the beginning” as they extend Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals on the web, or roll out sweepstakes and other promotions with hopes they’ll stand out from the pack in the next few weeks.
“Every day from now until Christmas is important to our business success this holiday season,” says a spokesman or woman for Toys ‘R’ Us Inc. “We have a great plan in place to position us to compete. This includes a strengthened in-stock position, optimized inventory and a clearer pricing strategy with simplified promotions.” Via internetretailer.com
Chinese online shoppers scoop up Black Friday deals
Amazon China’s sales of foreign goods increased fivefold on the day after Thanksgiving, and Macy’s sales surged. Thanksgiving is not a holiday in China, but the day after the United States celebrates with turkey and stuffing is becoming a day when Chinese online shoppers gratefully avail themselves of the Black Friday deals many overseas retailers and brands offer on their websites, both inside and outside of China.
Amazon China reports that its sales of overseas products increased fivefold on Black Friday (Nov. 27), and were five times larger than comparable sales on Singles’ Day, the big online shopping event in China that takes place every Nov. 11. Amazon also says it attracted four times more new visitors during the week of U.S. Thanksgiving this year versus 2014, as it offered deals all week along. Amazon.com Inc. says best-selling brands during Black Friday in China include Daniel Wellington, Samsonite, Clarks, Philips Norelco, Calvin Klein, Asus, Thermos, SanDisk, Tommy Hilfiger and Logitech. Amazon China is No. 5 in the Internet Retailer 2015 China 500. Via internetretailer.com
Top 10 Disruptive Retail Trends for 2016
Enterprise technology provider Software AG is expecting retail to become an increasingly seamless and store-centric proposition in 2016.
“The worlds of e-commerce and brick-and-mortar retail are now seamlessly merging with retailers evolving towards an omnichannel approach to their businesses,” said Oliver Guy, retail industry director, Software AG. “Mobile, cloud, analytics and social media will be fully integrated into a unified merchandising system designed to vastly improve customer engagement. The notion that ‘the store is dead’ is not, in our opinion, the future – rather, stores will become highly technology-enabled to deliver a super-personalized customer experience and become the hub of omnichannel customer-centricity. These new predictions highlight our view of the retail industry in the coming year.” Here are Software AG’s top 10 disruptive digital trends it is predicting for 2016. Via chainstoreage.com
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