Cyber Monday 2008 - Any Predictions?

So we're only a few hours away from the unoffical kickoff to the online holiday shopping season, better known as Cyber Monday. Last year, the National Retail Federation estimated 72 million shoppers visited the Internet to start their online holiday shopping. With an estimated 7% increase in Black Friday shopping from last year, will we see the same increase on Cyber Monday? With over 80% of retailers expected to offer online deals on Monday, I believe we will see a dramatic increase in retail traffic for the day. Expect around 75 million shoppers on Cyber Monday.

How will this affect the rest of the shopping season?

This will remain to be seen, but if the predictions are correct that retail numbers will be equal to last year, don't expect any record setting activity for the remainder of the shopping season. We may see a surge in shopping on Cyber Monday, then a two week lull, so retailers will be forced to discount their merchandise deeper and deeper. The last weekend before Christmas will be a record setting weekend, but will it be enough?

Savages

If you've been following the news today, you've heard about chaos and death during a Black Friday sale in New York. What is wrong with people? Complete savages have made the news again. A clerk is trampled to death in Long Island, NY after opening the doors at a Wal-Mart and the doors were ripped off the hinges, according to other reports. And there are reports a pregnant woman has miscarried due to being trampled at the same store.

The New York Daily News is showing pictures of the chaotic scene. What did you expect when you have a sign on the wall that says, "Blitz Line Starts Here". Check it out here:

http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2008/11/28/2008-11-28_worker_dies_at_long_island_walmart_after.html

After you are well rested from shopping this morning, please share your Black Friday stories with me.

Hulu and Lulu

Hulu and Lulu are two of the most interesting websites I have seen in a while. They are both entertainment related, but serve entirely different purposes.

Hulu www.hulu.com/ is an online media service that features a great assortment of movies as well as many current network television shows. I just got caught up with recent episodes of Fox's Kitchen Nightmares and tuned into Eddie Murphy's classic standup movie, "Raw". There is no cost to sign up, and if you can endure about 3 minutes worth of commercials scattered throughout the broadcasts, you will enjoy them. It's like on-demand, without the cable company demanding money.

Lulu http://www.lulu.com/ is an online e-book and printed book sales site. They offer very reasonable rates for self-publishing if you are interested in saving on publishing costs. They also let you sell your e-book online, too and we have used their service to promote our first e-book called the "2009 Marketing and Promotion Calendar". Go to http://www.2009promocalendar.com/ for more information about our masterpiece. Lulu allows you to sell your work, and they only take a percentage of any sales created. It's a great feature to give your writing more exposure and there are no upfront costs.

Black Friday - Are you Ready?

A lot of hype is historically generated for Black Friday and this year will be no different. It is going to be even more competitive since the retail experts have suggested we will see a downturn in retail buying activity. With a great deal of uncertainty due to current economic conditions, retailers and shopping centers are using money to get you into their stores and shopping centers.

A recent article in the San Francisco Business Times indicated the Sunvalley Shopping Center in Concord will be giving away four $250 gift cards starting at 6 a.m. on Black Friday, November 28th. That should get shoppers into their shopping center, and hopefully visiting stores, too.

As a consumer, you will be in a position to take advantage of agressive disounting. As a retailer, however, you will be under a great deal of pricing pressure. Depending upon your industry you may either discount heavily, or focus on your service, product selection, and niche products.

If you are looking for help with promotional activity this year, it is not too late. Visit our website at www.miraretail.com and contact us for assistance.

Information Overload?

I was recently in a Target Store and a new end cap display caught my eye as I was walking down a main aisle. The display was advertising a new product for women's care, but what was unique about this display was that a dynamic digital LCD unit had been installed at the top of the display with an in-store commercial being promoted on the display.

Like it or not, this is the direction of marketing and in-store promotion. Performance metrics can be applied easily to these new Point of Purchase end-cap displays since the amount of product sold can be directly attributed to the effectiveness of the message and the value of the promotion.

One primary advantage of using a digital LCD display on an end-cap unit is that a new message can be created for a different product line. Essentially, these displays are re-useable. As a marketing professional, I have been involved in the visual display industry and can help businesses approach innovative point-of-purchase advertising using LCD displays, store fixture manufacturing, and digitally printed media. Our website www.miradisplay.com has more information about the interior display solutions available as well as an on-line FastQuote service for interior signs.

2009 Marketing & Promotion Calendar

It has been in the works for six months, but we are excited to announce that we have completed our first E-Book titled the "2009 Marketing & Promotion Calendar". This calendar has been designed to help businesses stay on top of their marketing efforts for the entire year. Each month's marketing activities can be entered on a linear calendar so you may visualize when and where your messages will penetrate the market. Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays are highlighted in red to keep you on track with weekend promotions, too.

At the end of the year, you may "look-back" to determine which promotions were most effective and least effective. Included in the E-Book is helpful information regarding promotional ideas to boost your creativity for each month. Each month includes a list of monthly, weekly, and daily observances that a business may incorporate for their next promotion.

Please visit www.2009promocalendar.com for more information about the E-Book and to take a look at a sample calendar.