For Stores, Email Still Beats Pants Off Social

When it comes to shopping, consumers still prefer to learn about promotions via email, and by a large margin, according to a new survey from Millward Brown Digital. After search engines, email comes in at No. 2. Furthermore, 40.6 percent of people choose email as a tool when they shop, compared to only 27.3 percent for social networking sites. Emails are more personalized, says Uyen Chand, senior analyst for retail and CPG with Millward Brown, and appeal to people because they can open them when they feel like it, on their own terms.