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BUSINESS MAILERS REVIEW Monitoring the Postal Service, Private Carriers and Suppliers Published by PNMSI Publishing Co

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BUSINESS MAILERS REVIEW Monitoring the Postal Service, Private Carriers and Suppliers Published by PNMSI Publishing Co BUSINESS MAILERS REVIEW Monitoring the Postal Service, Private Carriers and Suppliers Published by PNMSI Publishing Co. Volume 38, Number 24 December 4, 2017 Thanksgiving is a Weekend “Thing” After several years in which retailers wavered 20171128006289/en. The 10 million “unexpected” over the advantages of opening or closing on Thanksgiv- shoppers were warmly welcomed. ing Day, the 2017 holiday season kick-off shifted from a Demographics Thanksgiving Day to a holiday weekend focus. Online Trybe AS, which collects and analyzes data on sellers were ready for consumers day or night on shoppers’ preferences, conducted its survey of holiday Thanksgiving Day while a number of retailers closed for weekend shoppers and found that Thanksgiving Day the day or opened their doors at 5 or 6 p.m. The change shoppers tended to be women. It reported that women in focus resulted in part from evidence in prior years prefer shopping on Thanksgiving Day more than men, that Thanksgiving Day shoppers did not shop as much 34% vs. 30%, whereas men are in favor of shopping on on Black Friday. It did not make sense for some Cyber Monday more than women, 56% vs. 51%. retailers to open their doors all day on the holiday to beat Making a Day of It some other retailer to the sale a day earlier. The International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC), What does this mean for the postal industry and which serves the retail real estate industry, released its own private shipping companies? It means that there is Thanksgiving Weekend Shopping Report showing that market share left for pursuit by online sellers in 2018. consumers visited and spent at local shopping attractions The efforts to go after that share will continue with over the holiday weekend rather than focusing on Thanks- the shipping and packaging industry preparing to giving or even Black Friday. Its 2017 survey showed that, move on that business as well. throughout the weekend, more than 145 million adults spent What Worked Well time at malls and shopping centers and estimated their Retailers' assessments seemed to hold true for spending, on average, at $377.50. They did not shop until 2017. Retailers improved their sales by shortening in-store they dropped either. They dined ot, too. Food/dining and Thanksgiving hours and working on omnichannel deals. entertainment garnered revenues of $78.70 per adult over Retail Dive reports that Gordon Haskett emailed to it the holiday. estimates that “roughly 65% of consumers made a Tom McGee, President and CEO of ICSC said: purchase either online or in-store this weekend, with a “What we are seeing over the course of the year, and weighted average spend of $420. About 50% of shoppers more so during the holiday season, is consumers’ desire also said they spent more this Black Friday weekend than to take advantage of everything a mall has to offer last. whether that is dining, shopping or entertainment.” "Electronics stole the show again with the biggest Optimism Rises discounts of the day—with computers discounted by “Thanksgiving Weekend is a great indicator for what nearly 16% on average, followed by TVs (down 22%) will be a holiday season full of spending, as we are seeing a and toys (down 17%), according to Adobe” Analytics. very positive consumer sentiment and willingness to https://www.retaildive.com/news/meet-the-winners- spend,” said McGee. “Shopping centers across the country and-losers-of-black-friday-2017/511661/. should feel very optimistic about the season ahead. While The National Retail Federation (NRF) found that the shopping season is longer this year, it’s not coming at 11% of those who shopped over the holiday weekend the expense of the most popular shopping day of the year.” shopped before 5 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day while Consumer confidence continues to climb to seventeen- another 11% started at 6 p.m. NRF says more than 174 year highs. The consumer confidence index rose to 129.5 in million persons shopped in stores or online from Thanks- November, up from 126.2 a month earlier, according to new giving Day through Cyber Monday. That is three in four data released last week by the Conference Board. Americans. The NRF and Prosper Insights and In all, American consumers are projected to spend Analytics produced the traffic count. Those sources had about $680 billion this holiday season, marking a 3.6% to predicted only 164 million shoppers for the period. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/ (Continued on Page 3) Reproduction by any means is illegal and punishable by sanctions of up to $100,000 per violation. © Copyright 2017 by PNMSI Publishing Co. Inc. 2 BUSINESS MAILERS REVIEW — December 4, 2017 Short Takes https://www.retaildive.com/news/black-friday-weekend- beat-nrf-forecast-by-10m-shoppers/511849/. Amazon’s holiday numbers will not be available "For retailers that missed the mark and are still for some time, but the company saw a stock jump working through loads of inventory, worry not. Online that sent CEO Jeff Bezos’ net worth over $100 billion. sales for most big retailers are extending throughout the *** week. And beyond that, eight of the 10 busiest shop- The challenge in 2018 will be for online mer- ping days, including Super Saturday (which this year chants to learn more about their customers than an falls the day before Christmas Eve) still remain." https:/ email address and browsing history can reveal. “As /www.retaildive.com/news/meet-the-winners-and-losers- the numbers come in after Black Friday, it is clear that of-black-friday-2017/511661/. more shoppers are opting to buy online rather than in- *** store, which is why it is more important than ever that Weak or failed websites generally represent the retailers understand the behaviors and motivations of holiday news story that wasn’t much to write about. their online customers,” Pini Yakuel, CEO of Instead of showing the power of technology or a Optimove, said in a recent press release. marketing message that worked, website failures during Marketing today means something different peak periods represent promise unfulfilled. It is as bad from what it has meant in the past. “Digital marketing as last year’s holiday candy found at the bottom of a took the reins on conversion rates this year, with paid drawer—too sticky to be sweet. search making up nearly 23.3 percent of sales this In 2017, Macy’s, Lowe’s, and U.K.-based season. However, direct traffic and email campaigns retailers the Perfume Shop and Game saw traffic stall were not far behind. All in all, promotional campaigns and dissipate on Black Friday. The glitches were fixed drove more than 70 percent of sales. in short order, but the point is that, on Black Friday, “The key to competition, outside of keywords, orders come in fast and outpace the rate on other days. comes down to personalized campaigns and fostering For Macy’s, it was credit card processing that brand loyalty that keeps consumers coming back. slowed down. Effects were felt in stores in prime According to Salesforce, nearly 30 percent of revenue markets such as Chicago, Washington, D.C., San stemmed from shopping recommendations tailored to Diego, and online. Macy’s experienced difficulties in consumer habits with the help of A.I. insights. 2016, too. It could ill afford the injury to its reputation “’On Black Friday last year, our research that results from such difficulties. The retailer claimed showed that 71 percent of shoppers had bought the slowdown stemmed from “overcapacity,” but the something from the brand before at some stage,’ reason is never as helpful as the remedy. Customers Yakuel said. ‘The challenge for retailers is to continue can find what they want some other place and swiftly building on this relationship outside of the pre- move on if they face slow loading, error messages, or Christmas and sales period.’” http://www.dmnews. the spinning symbol for lack of response. com/e-commerce/black-friday-digital-marketing/ Lowe’s website crashed on Black Friday for article/709842/. about twenty minutes. *** H&M suffered a full outage between 5:30 p.m. On the subject of seasonal optimism, Retail and 6:30 p.m. on Thanksgiving, followed by another Dive explains: “Sales during the red-letter shopping outage at 4:30 a.m. on Black Friday. On Saturday, the weekend were a ‘boom’ that bodes well for the site was down from 6:34 a.m. to 7:56 a.m. It had season, according to Joe Brusuelas, chief economist, intermittent issues at additional times over the holiday middle market advisory firm RSM. weekend. ‘“In our estimation the improvement in employ- Gap’s website slowed down between 11 a.m. and ment, wages and overall spending over the past six 1:30 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day, with load times during months strongly suggested that the US household was that period varying between 11 and 30 seconds. quietly building momentum into the holiday season,’ Game reported an outage, per Business Insider. he said in an email to Retail Dive. ‘We continue to Perfume Shop did as well, per The Sun. make the case that this will be the best holiday These failures serve as a reminder to test your spending season in the current business cycle.’” website. BUSINESS MAILERS REVIEW — December 4, 2017 3 Thanksgiving is a Weekend Thing... (cont. from page 1) 4% increase from last year’s $655.8 billion, according to the past weekend NRF forecasts. Those figures are in line with last year’s • 12% expect the deals/promotions won’t be as good.
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