Shop.org Blog » Ed Henrich, VP of Professional Services, Responsys, Inc.

Retail Email Year-End Trends for 2009

Ed Henrich, VP of Professional Services, Responsys, Inc. — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 17:50:57 +0000

2009 saw record email volumes from retailers. Last year, the top online retailers tracked by the Retail Email Blog each sent an average of 132 promotional emails to each of their subscribers, a 12% increase over 2008—and 39% increase over 2007. Retailers continued to mail every other day during the holiday period. In a new research report, Responsys Research Director Chad White and our team of strategic consultants break down email volume trends during the past year, revealing the most popular days of the week and the year to send retail email, key seasonal information, and much more. Download the Retail Email Year-End Trends for 2009 report for all the details.

What Did They Do Last Year? 2008 Holiday Swipe File

Ed Henrich, VP of Professional Services, Responsys, Inc. — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 14:22:39 +0000

I’ve been tracking internet retailer websites for several years now, and I’ve decided to post several sites home pages from last holiday season.

The information is posted at SwipeFile.info along with instructions on how to best use. I’m actively experimenting with different ways to collect and display information and I’m interested in your thoughts on what is useful in these archives.

So far I’ve posted just a couple of categories, but have most of the top 500 or so retail sites in the archive.

The archives currently posted are:

Accessories and Shoes – Coach, eBags, FOSSIL, Nine West, Zappos

Apparel – Abercrombie & Fitch, Banana Republic, Gap, J. Crew, LL Bean, Old Navy, Urban Outfitters, Victoria’s Secret.

Department Stores – JCPenney, Macys, Nordstrom, Sears, Target, and Walmart.

If you like what you see, have suggestions on how to organize better, have companies you’d like to see, or have trouble understanding how to use – email me at ed@henrich.biz , feel free to comment below or look for me at the Annual Summit next week.

Cyber Monday & Black Friday – Visual Roundup

Ed Henrich, VP of Professional Services, Responsys, Inc. — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 05:59:43 +0000

I’m working with Lauren Freedman of the E-Tailing Group to track 100 of the top retail websites. I posted screenshots of the 100 sites for Black Friday and Cyber Monday on my blog at

http://thisweekinetail.blogspot.com/2008/12/cyber-monday-black-friday-roundup.html

Using PowerPoint, GoogleDocs or Picasa make it much faster for you to fly through 100 sites than if you were viewing individual sites.

Feel free to read it there and comment here. Since I’m sure this post will get more traffic than my blog typically does. (I’d have posted it all here, but my Blogger skills outpace my WordPress skills.)

Expect “Free Shipping” Searches to Double in the Next Two Weeks

Ed Henrich, VP of Professional Services, Responsys, Inc. — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 14:15:31 +0000

If last year is any indication, expect consumer searches on “free shipping” to nearly double in the next two weeks.

Looking at Google’s trend data, you can see the clear spikes in consumers searches for free shipping every holiday.

If you overlay the data to compare year-over-year, you can see that this year is on track to beat last year’s trends.

Last year the top five weeks for the year were

Nov 18 2007 2.38
Nov 25 2007 2.68
Dec 2 2007 2.68
Dec 9 2007 2.60
Dec 16 2007 2.04

These numbers were up 70% over the early November numbers.

Don’t wait for the media to report on it though. If you look at last year, the news reference volume clearly lagged the consumer searches.

For more free shipping info see some of my other blog posts

Is Free Shipping a MUST in this economy?

Ed Henrich, VP of Professional Services, Responsys, Inc. — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 19:59:40 +0000

In a recent comScore study, 72% of consumers said that if an e-commerce site eliminated free shipping, they would use another e-commerce site that did offer free shipping. Last week the LA Times reported that this year, nearly 80% of consumers said they were more likely to shop online with a retailer that offers free shipping, compared with 60% who said that last year.

In the last two weeks a lot more retailers are jumping on the free shipping band wagon. This week 7 of the top 100 retail sites offered unconditional free shipping up from just 4 retailers two weeks ago. 34% offered free shipping if you spent a certain amount, up from 27% two weeks ago. More stats available on my blog This Week In Etail.

What do you think the final outcome will be?

Black Friday & Cyber Monday – Get Ready!

Ed Henrich, VP of Professional Services, Responsys, Inc. — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 14:46:42 +0000

The Thanksgiving weekend is less than four weeks away. There are many things you can do to drive increased revenue this holiday season. To see what your competitors did last year see the slide shows at the end of this post.

Thanksgiving weekend is traditionally very promotional – especially on Cyber Monday. Almost all retailers email on Cyber Monday, and most offer a promotion. If you aren’t promotional, you may want to mail on a different day so that you stand out from the crowd. Without an offer on Cyber Monday, your email will get lost. Last year 32% of retailers offered free shipping on all orders for Cyber Monday – in addition to other promotions (according to shop.org’s 2008 Holiday Strategy & Planning Guide .)

Use your home page and email to give customers information about offline Thanksgiving weekend shopping in your stores. Even if your online group doesn’t “get credit” for those sales, your customers expect that your website is an information source for ALL channels. Many consumers last year prepared for offline Thanksgiving weekend shopping by first consulting information online. Newspapers and catalogs are still important, but the shift online continues. According to shop.org 75% of consumers surveyed consulted the retailer’s Web site to research products and special offers before heading out to shop offline on Black Friday and 61% also consulted emails that they received from retailers for this purpose. Last year retailers missed the boat on their home page promotions to drive offline shopping – 43% sent emails with offline shopping information, but only 20% included messaging on their home page about offline offers and other related information. (See also the home page archive at the bottom of this post.) Get it right this year. Create a dedicated email and home page to specifically feature information for shoppers planning to buy offline – not just the promotions but also critical offline features like store pick up options, store locators, maps, directions and store hours. Try to find the store locator on many websites. It’s nearly impossible. Put a big button for store locators on your Thanksgiving Day site.

Give customers a good reason to shop online while brick and mortar stores are closed on Thanksgiving day.

Want to see what your competitors did last year? Check out these two albums with over 100 of the top internet retailers’ home pages for 2007 Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

Black Friday

Black Friday 2007 – Full Album on Picasa

Cyber Monday

Cyber Monday 2007 – Full Album on Picasa

You can also see more at

http://thisweekinetail.blogspot.com/