12-09-2005, 02:05 PM
Quote:...online marketing campaigns have played a larger role than usual in driving shopper behavior early in the holiday season. According to LIVEmark Index data, the number of visits to retail sites driven by online marketing increased 33% from the week prior to Thanksgiving to the week after. In addition to driving more traffic through online marketing, the start of the holidays brought an increase in conversion rates but a decline in average order size for retailers leveraging heavy discounting this year. "When people shop for gifts during the holidays their purchasing behavior is different than it is during the rest of the year," said Joe Davis, president and CEO of Coremetrics. "This year merchants who have effectively leveraged online marketing to grab consumer attention have seen a big payoff in terms of site traffic and revenues"
LIVEmark data regarding online traffic shows that marketing sources, such as email, paid search, affiliate marketing, banner ads, and shopping comparison site placements, drove an increasing share of traffic to start the holidays for leading retailers. Data collected revealed that visits driven by marketing increased 13% from the week starting November 14 th to the week of the Thanksgiving holiday starting on November 21st . In the week after the holiday, starting on November 28th , marketing driven visits rose by 33% over the week prior to Thanksgiving. These gains in marketing driven traffic outpaced overall increases in site traffic resulting from holiday shopping of 9% and 24% respectively for the two weeks.
In addition to increased visits driven by marketing, retailers saw an increase in conversion rates and a decrease in average order value during this time, indicating that discounting may have accelerated purchases, but done so at a cost..."
full press release: http://www.coremetrics.com/news/media/20...eason.html