Promotional Strategy

The fact that promotions can drive sales is probably as old as commerce itself. However, in a digital-first, e-commerce world, the role of promotions has broadened. In addition to the effect on sales, promotions can also influence purchase timing, which has knock-on implications for fulfillment and the customer experience. This connection was revealed by a recent study of…

Let’s face it, the world of retail promotions is often a shoot-first, aim-later environment, where merchants either just repeat last year’s promotions or randomly toss out desperate offers driven by trade fund incentives or competitors’ current offers. However, in an unprecedented retail environment where shopper behaviors and preferences bear no resemblance to those of past…

Consumer needs and behaviors are changing rapidly, challenging retail marketers to keep pace with quickly evolving habits and preferences. For example, at the beginning of the pandemic when many airlines were gearing up for the summer vacation travel boom, consumers were shifting their dollars to home goods, loungewear and bread makers, and pausing on airline…

The pandemic transformed the way we shop almost overnight, leading to an immediate rise in digital grocery sales. Shipt and Instacart responded to increased demand for grocery delivery by hiring thousands of additional workers. Many retailers, both physical and digital, followed suit with more hires of their own. While I believe that consumers will ultimately…

Like much of everything in 2020, the holiday shopping season is expected to look quite different than prior years — and it extends way beyond just wearing a mask to the mall. Every year, Shopkick surveys U.S. consumers to learn more about their holiday shopping plans. This time around, amidst a global pandemic, findings show…

Bed Bath & Beyond (BB&B) is known for its frequent coupons, sent in the mail and via email to lure customers into stores by promising 15 percent or 20 percent discounts off bedding and other home accessories. However, in a bid to boost profits and be more competitive on pricing with its competitors, the company is…

There’s no question that the upcoming holiday shopping season, and Black Friday in particular, promises to be the strongest on record. With major retailers such as Walmart planning to remain closed on Thanksgiving — the modern start of the holiday shopping season — both brick-and-mortar and online retailers alike are gearing up to maximize their…

As the holidays quickly approach, many early-bird consumers have already begun rounding up items on their holiday lists, eager to beat the holiday rush. But as any retailer knows, there will inevitably be plenty of shoppers who need a little — or perhaps a lot — of help making that final dash to get their holiday shopping wrapped…

Several major retailers have signaled that they're using Amazon Prime Day 2020, which runs today and tomorrow, as the starting point to begin their holiday sales — even though they're not mentioning Amazon.com directly. On Monday, for example, J.C. Penney launched an event that runs through Wednesday that allows "shoppers to get a jump start on…

Amazon Prime Day won't be the only big sales event in October. Walmart and Target have both announced plans to host their own online sales events that just happen to coincide with Amazon's annual shopping fest. On Monday, Walmart said it will be holding a "Big Save" online event that runs Oct. 11 through Oct. 15. Walmart will offer Black…