Up to 140 million people are expected to shop online and offline from Black Friday through the weekend, according to the National Retail Federation. While this may sound like a huge number, it actually represents a decline of 5 percent from last year’s projection. Analysts say consumers are likely to see bigger discounts this year, but the fiscal cliff and sequestration will dampen shopper enthusiasm slightly. One area that all experts agree will boom is mobile shopping. In 2011, 14.3 percent of shoppers used their mobile phones to access a retailer website. Last year, this number jumped to 24 percent. It’s expected to climb to as high as 44 percent this year, according to MarketLand. Mobile shoppers aren’t just clicking “buy” from their phones, however. There are many more uses for a smartphone on Black Friday this year. 1. Look up information and customer reviews while in store. Consumers still like […]
Black Friday is a day marketers dream about all year long. Shoppers are promised deep discounts as a reward for getting an early start on their Christmas Shopping. Retailers can then sleep easy at night for most of the holiday season, knowing that they’re “in the black” sooner – rather than later. One would think social media and Black Friday sales would be a match made in heaven. After all, what better way to find all the doorbuster sales than to hashtag #BlackFriday on Twitter, watch a few product demos on YouTube, or peruse your friend’s shopping activity on Facebook? It’s been exactly 1 week since Black Friday and the results are in… But alas, Black Friday 2012 was an EPIC FAIL. Here are 8 reasons why… 1. The news headlines are driving home the notion that social media is useless in driving sales. Given the raw data from the […]