by Robin Fiedler

Instead of shoppers leaving a warm, cozy house at 3 AM on Black Friday, they may be finding better deals while sitting pajama-clad sipping a hot cup of java in front of a computer.

Online or offline, retailers want to make the sale, and having hired less holiday-season employees to handle the crowds, beefing up their websites to handle more traffic seems to be the trend. Here’s the goods. Shop.org, the Digital Division of The National Retailers Federation, released an optimistic report for online retailers on October 16, 2009. Kathy Grannis and Jon Symons write, “Despite a progressively deteriorating economic environment, including the worst holiday season in decades, 57 percent of online retailers surveyed for Shop.org’s State of Retailing Online reported they were more profitable in 2008 than 2007. The survey polled 117 retailers and was conducted by Forrester Research, Inc.“ 

More profitable in 2008 than 2007? That’s not what we’re hearing from the brick-and-mortar side of retail, which according to the NRF reported a decrease in holiday retail sales in 2008. Perhaps the loss by the ‘real’ world retailers and the profit in e-commerce in 2008, one of the worst economic years in decades, foreshadows the shift towards consumers’ preference for the online experience. In a BIGresearch survey for 2008, 45% of consumers planned to do holiday shopping online. With 73.6 million total shoppers on Black Friday 2008, that means about 33 million were online (NRF).

Deals - E-commerce offers online coupons, free shipping, and online sales adjusted to consumer traffic. In 2007 Mel Duvall reported, “According to its eHoliday survey conducted by BizRate Research, online retailers are expected to offer everything from ‘doorbuster deals,’ to free shipping to promotional gifts to entice consumers. The marketing campaigns will range from special e-mail campaigns (32%), to specific deals (30 %), to one-day sales (29%). In addition, 25 percent of retailers are expected to offer free shipping on purchases.”  The downside is that a credit or debit card is required versus the cash-and-carry option, or the resurgence of lay-away offline.

Research - comparing prices from multiple retailers and the all-important product reviews are much easier online than physically searching circulars and newspapers and traipsing from store to store only to find that the most-wanted items are sold out. NRF claims, “retailers will focus on adding alternative images of products (50%), zoom, and color or fabric swatches (31%) this year.” Research online could be outdated by the time you reach the physical store, such as items being sold-out or out-of-stock.

Crowds - there are crowds in both places. The physical world means long lines and heavy traffic while the online world means busy websites will slow down or even thwart online transactions. “[E]ight out of ten retailers (79%) said enhancing the checkout process was on the top of their to-do lists for the remainder of the year, with 90 percent of medium-sized retailers listing checkout as a top priority,” according to Grannis at the NRF.

Overall Experience - it’s a matter of preference whether you enjoy the social aspect of mingling with other shoppers and shopping with family and friends with the pleasures of touch, sight, and smell, or the relative calm of viewing graphic images and spec lists, striking a few keys, and clicking the mouse for door-to-door delivery.

The Best of Both Worlds - Now there’s the option to ship purchases free to “your store” for online expediency, ensuring the product is available with a trip-to-the-store experience. However, nothing beats online reviews. Online access allows an international community of shoppers to ‘mingle’ through reviews, ratings, and blogs, something that mall shoppers miss out on unless they bring their Blackberry or iPhone along on Black Friday.

Footnotes

Duvall, Mel. “High-Tech Marketing Marks Black Friday, Cyber Monday.” Baseline. 20 Nov. 2007. http://www.baselinemag.com/c/a/Intelligence/HighTech-Marketing-Marks-Black-Friday-Cyber-Monday/

Grannis, Kathy and Jon Symons. “Shop.org/Forrester Report Shows Online Retailers Optimistic for ‘09, See Opportunity Ahead.” Shop.org: NRF’s Digital Division. 19 Oct. 2009. http://www.shop.org/c/journal_articles/view_article_content?groupId=1&articleId=1031&version=1.0

Grannis, Kathy. “Online Retailers Focus on Checkout to Increase Sales, According to State of Retailing Online.” National Retail Federation.15 July 2009. http://www.nrf.com/modules.php?name=News&op=viewlive&sp_id=760

Grannis, Kathy. “NRF Survey Finds Black Friday Gets Holiday Season Off to Energetic Start.” National Retail Federation. 30 Nov. 2008. http://www.nrf.com/modules.php?name=News&op=viewlive&sp_id=610

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