Retailer Email Volume Hits New High
Top online retailers set a record for the volume of promotional email they sent last week. According to Chad White, research director at Responsys and author of the Retail Email Blog, top online retailers sent their subscribers an average of 4.1 promotional emails each during the week ending December 18, 2009.
This represents a roughly 11% increase from the average of 3.7 promotional emails top online retailers sent their subscribers during the week ending December 11, 2009. Average promotional email volume for the week ending December 11 also rose 44% from slightly more than 2.8 the week ending November 20, 2009 and 5% from about 3.8 during the equivalent four week-period in November-December 2008.
Last week, White predicted retail email volume would fall for the first time since the Retail Email Blog began tracking retailer email campaigns in 2006 during the week ending December 18, 2009, but a surge in emails during this final week of guaranteed Christmas delivery with standard shipping pushed volume above last year’s. Promotional email volume has grown erratically during the 2009 holiday season.
Monday, December 14, was the most popular day to send retail emails last week, with 62% of top online retailers sending at least one promotional email. Thursday, which was Free Shipping Day, turned out to be the least popular weekday last week, with only 48% of top online retailers sending at least one promotional email, but retailers may look to leverage and build awareness of this day in 2010.
This week, retailers are expected to make their final push for Christmas messaging and New Year’s messaging will likely start to pick up. Last week, the percentage of top online retailers sending promotional email mentioning Christmas slightly fell from 90% the week ending December 11, and virtually no retailers sent promotional email mentioning New Year’s.
E-commerce Strength May Continue through Holiday Season
Several recent pieces of research suggest e-commerce will be a bright spot for holiday sales in 2009. According to the November 2009 American Express Spending and Saving Tracker, the internet will be a popular resource for holiday shoppers this year. Seventy-nine percent of overall respondents plan to use the internet as a tool for holiday shopping, 45% plan to purchase items online, 28% will use the internet to buy hard-to-find items, 27% will use the internet for product research, and 25% will go online for gift ideas.
The 2009 Holiday Forecast from comparison shopping site PriceGrabber.com corroborates these findings. PriceGrabber’s research indicates 70% of consumers plan to save money by performing research and comparison shopping online this year, compared to 38% last year. And according to the Deloitte 24th Annual Holiday Survey, 19% of consumers plan to access the internet via their mobile phones while shopping to find store locations, obtain coupons and sales information, as well as research products and prices. This percentage rose to 39% in the 18 to 29 age group.