More Holiday Shopping Tidbits...

Kenshoo U.S. Retail Index Shows Year-Over-Year Lifts in All Key Performance Indicators Through Cyber Monday

SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 1, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Kenshoo, a global leader in search marketing and online advertising technology, announced today the release of the Kenshoo 2010 Online Holiday Shopping Report.

Kenshoo's digital marketing software is used by five of the top ten U.S. retailers and drives more than $15 billion in online sales for its customers from over $1 billion in annual advertising spend.

This report is based on the newly created Kenshoo U.S. Retail Index that will serve as a barometer for examining online holiday shopping trends.  By showing how a cross-section of Kenshoo retail customers are investing and profiting from Internet advertising during the peak shopping season, this report delivers insights into the state of the U.S. economy and provides benchmarks for marketers to improve performance.

The Kenshoo 2010 Online Holiday Shopping Report breaks down the 26 day period from November 4th through November 29th and isolates performance on Thanksgiving Day, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday.

Key findings in the report include an increase of 31% in year-over-year search advertising budgets for the holiday season to date as well as 83% more online sales transactions and a 60% lift in total online sales revenue.

The report covers six key trends identified by analyzing the data from the Kenshoo U.S. Retail Index:

1. The Holiday Shopping Season is Starting Earlier
2. Online Shoppers are More Responsive to Paid Search Advertising
3. Consumers are Buying More Often With Smaller Basket Sizes
4. Paid Search Advertisers Have Increased Effectiveness  
5. Thanksgiving is Now "Cyber Kickoff Day"
6. Competition for Retailers Peaks on Cyber Monday

"As more and more holiday shopping is conducted online, the dynamics of paid search marketing and online advertising have changed dramatically," said Aaron Goldman, Chief Marketing Officer at Kenshoo. "To capture share of mind and wallet, advertisers must start the planning process early and build in flexibility to react to market conditions. By focusing on relevancy, experimenting with merchandising, and leveraging advanced bid algorithms, retailers can approach online advertising with confidence."

This report will be updated following Christmas to provide a full view of the 2010 holiday shopping season. There are plans to make this an annual report and, in future editions, include regions outside the U.S. as well as online advertising channels beyond paid search such as social media and display. Please visit www.Kenshoo.com/HolidayReport to download the report and get the latest updates.

About Kenshoo

Kenshoo provides a global technology platform for search marketing and online advertising. Kenshoo's digital marketing software delivers the control, automation and efficiency needed to make better investments across search, social and display campaigns. Advertisers, agencies, and marketing providers use the Kenshoo Enterprise™ and Kenshoo Local™ suites to drive more than $15 billion in online sales revenue from over $1 billion in annual ad spend. Kenshoo's world-class engineering team creates SaaS solutions that power the 7 largest ad agency networks and 5 of the top 10 retailers. Kenshoo customers include such brands as Facebook, Havas Digital, Hitwise, iREP, Jobsite, John Lewis, LendingTree, Omnicom Media Group, SMG Search, and Zappos. Kenshoo operates in every major country from nine international locations and is backed by Sequoia Capital and Arts Alliance. Please visit www.Kenshoo.com for more information.

Contact
Aaron Goldman
Chief Marketing Officer, Kenshoo
+1-877-536-7462

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Push-Up Bra Sales Suggest Strong Holiday Season

Attention armchair economists: You don’t need spreadsheets to get a handle on how this year’s holiday shopping season is going. Just keep an eye on sales of push-up bras.

You read that right. Retail analyst John Morris says that if we see brisk sales of the “Miraculous” bras at Victoria’s Secret it could be a good indicator of two important economic trends.
— If women buy these high-priced bras, they’re probably willing to buy other things for themselves, too. That would be a shift from the last two holiday seasons when shoppers mostly bought for others.
— Strong sales of lingerie would also suggest that shoppers are willing to indulge. That would be a change from last year when they stuck to basics. The bras, launched a year ago and sold with the tag line “Hello, Bombshell,” cost between $49.50 and $250, more than most bras.
“The Bombshell bra has been selling out, and that’s not because husbands are buying them for their wives,” says Morris, who works at of BMO Capital Markets. “It’s the wives buying for themselves.”
Stores that sell intimate apparel are hardly the only place for amateur economists to gauge the pulse of U.S. shoppers. Head to any mall during the holiday season, and pay attention to how people are paying for things and how many discounts retailers are using to win over shoppers.
Here are some things to look for:
WHAT’S ON SALE?
Everybody loves discounts, and retailers offer plenty of them. The key difference to watch for is this: when discounts shift from planned promotions into desperate acts by retailers trying to move merchandise out the door.
Offers of 25 percent to 30 percent off shouldn’t set off any alarms. Discounts of that size have become standard practice. Don’t be surprised if you see even larger promotions, like 40 percent to 50 percent off, in certain areas of a store.
If discounts get bigger or seem out of the ordinary, watch out. Two years ago, at the height of the financial meltdown, retailers slashed prices by as much as 90 percent to draw in shoppers who had been unwillingly to buy much of anything.
“Keep an eye on the breadth of promotions throughout the store,” says Michael Dart, a retail strategist at consulting firm Kurt Salmon and co-author of the new book called “The New Rules of Retail.” ‘‘When they are across every corner, that means they are unplanned.”
Another giveaway: An easel outside the store promoting even more discounts. That means the retailer didn’t plan for that promotion, says Morris of BMO Capital Markets.
Markdowns on goods sitting on the front displays as you enter a store are another sign the retailer is struggling to move merchandise any way it can, Morris says. The same goes if the goods seen in the window or on store mannequins are discounted.
WHAT ARE THEY BUYING?
A year ago, necessities trumped luxuries when it came to holiday buying. Shoppers went for basics, like winter coats or even diapers, and even home goods like coffee makers. People made relatively fewer purchases for themselves.
Retailers hope people will return to buying more traditional gifts this holiday season.
“This year, we are seeing that customers have adjusted to the environment and feel that the economy is gradually improving, and are therefore more receptive to the idea of opening up their wallets and spending this season,” says Steve Lawrence, who helps decide what products get stocked inJCPenney stores.
To see if that’s happening, watch to see if shoppers are buying more gifts like perfumes, cashmere sweaters or jewelry. If you see them carting out big-ticket items like TVs or iPads, that is good news, too.
Zhu Zhu Pets were last year’s must-have toy during the holiday season. At $10, the furry toy hamsters were priced right for tough economic times. This year, retailers are promoting some higher-priced items like Dance Star Mickey for around $60. The electronic Mickey Mouse doll, manufactured by Mattel Inc., walks, talks and dances.
Also important is whether shoppers are willing to indulge on themselves during the holidays. There was very little “self-gifting” in recent years.
“When the economy is good, there’s a mentality of ‘buy one for me and buy one as a gift,’” says Ken Perkins, president of RetailMetrics, a research firm. “We didn’t see that the last few years.”
Some retailers are promoting buying for one’s self. JCPenney is offering 150 styles of fashionable boots for $29.99 on the Friday after Thanksgiving, hoping women buy for themselves while picking up gifts for others.
HOW ARE THEY PAYING FOR IT?
Many Americans swore off credit cards during the Great Recession, and are still loathe to use plastic.
Total U.S. credit-card balances dropped by $8.3 billion to $813.9 billion in September, the 25th consecutive monthly drop since the onset of the credit crisis in the fall of 2008, according to Federal Reserve data.
Bernard Baumohl, chief global economist at The Economic Outlook Group in Princeton, N.J., doesn’t want to go back to the days of overleverage, but he thinks something to watch for this holiday season is whether there is a resurgence of purchases on credit cards.
“Debt, and the willingness to take on debt, are important barometers of consumer confidence,” Baumohl says.
Why? Baumohl says people are more willing to add to their credit-card balances when they feel confident in their own finances and secure in their jobs.
Keep your eyes open when you’re holiday shopping this season. The best clues on how the economy is doing may be in the next aisle.
___
Rachel Beck is the national business columnist for The Associated Press. Write to her at rbeck(at)ap.org