Challenges and Solutions for a Tight Holiday Season

New Yahoo! research offers five tips for making the best of a tough sell

Hey, it’s a touchy holiday season this year. Though the economy appears to be seeing the proverbial light at the end of the clichéd tunnel, consumers are still feeling the pinch. According to new Yahoo! research, most U.S. consumers surveyed say that they expect to spend less this holiday season.

Sound bleak? Wait, there’s more. The research also indicates that consumers will be starting their gift searches online rather than in brick-and-mortar stores, are starting their shopping earlier, and, better still for online marketers, online spending is expected to increase even as overall sales dip.

Based on our research, here are five challenges and solutions for making your holiday selling season a success.

Challenge: Some 85 percent of shoppers surveyed say they will spend less this year than they did last year.

Solution: Appeal to conservative shoppers with incentives, coupons, sales, free shipping and other promotions.

Challenge: Holiday shopping starts earlier every year. Back in 2006, consumers generally started their holiday gift searches around September 30. This year they started around August 8—16 weeks before the start of the Christmas season!

Solution: Start your promotions early and get out in front of the competition. (For more, see “Black Friday is the New Cyber Monday.”)

Challenge: With earlier holiday shopping, holiday seasons tend to overlap—that is, Halloween and Thanksgiving shopping overlaps with the big, end-of-season holidays like Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa and New Years. Note that a good percentage of holiday shoppers are searching for holiday décor.

Solution: Employ an “always on” strategy to reach consumers across overlapping holiday seasons, because shoppers clearly aren’t taking a break between the big days. Just because it’s Halloween, that’s no reason not to promote Thanksgiving, Hanukkah or Christmas. This should be reflected in your keywords and ad copy.

Challenge: More and more consumers are looking for coupons and codes. In fact, the research revealed a 61 percent year over year increase in searches for retailer coupons.

Solution: Make it easy for consumers to find out about your holiday deals. Your keywords and ad copy should include your special offers.

Challenge: Interest in free shipping increases as shipping deadlines get closer.

Solution: Remember your customers at the end of the transaction, not just at the beginning. Make their searches easier by adding keywords and ad copy that reflects your intention to offer free or discounted shipping.

— Michael Mattis