The Women’s Wear Daily headline on Tuesday summed it up simply: “Cyber Monday Sees Record Shopping.” Undeterred by significant shopping just a day or two beforehand over Black Friday weekend, U.S. shoppers were clearly ready to continue snapping up deals that abounded online for Cyber Monday, rewarding many retailers with record-breaking days. Indeed, comScore tallied the day’s take at $1.25 billion (the “heaviest U.S. online spending day in history”, no less), and IBM Coremetrics reported that Cyber Monday online sales were up 33% over 2010. All of this demonstrates a fantastic start to the season, to be sure – but now the focus turns to making the most of the 23 shopping days left. Before shipping deadlines hit in a few weeks, historical patterns tell us that we can likely expect the next two Mondays to be significant sales days also. My take is that retailers are sitting on a gold mine of sales data garnered over Black Friday weekend and Cyber Monday, which they should now use to make the most of the next few weeks: Turn best seller data into social media, email, site content. Those rafts of Thanksgiving weekend sales data on best sellers and most popular items are perfect for “trend” messaging. Pepper social media outlets, emails, Web sites and mobile apps with this trend content – it’s up to the minute, it’s authentic (straight from fellow customers), and it’s a rich source of ideas for customers to feel they’re buying the “right” gifts this season (whether for others or for oneself). Don’t take your eye off the paid search ball. As Michael Griffin of Adlucent noted in the 2011 Shop.org Holiday Strategy & Planning Guide, proactively managing paid search through the extended holiday shopping season is crucial. Review which categories and products spiked over Black Friday weekend and Cyber Monday, then see if it’s feasible to advertise those proactively; adjust day parting rules to reflect holiday shopping behavior (patterns may be quite different now than even a few weeks ago); and add site links to top performing categories to improve click through rates and traffic. Remarket shopping carts to customers who didn’t quite get to “confirm order.” Maybe the customer just wasn’t sure, maybe they were shopping at multiple sites, maybe they’re still holding out for a better offer even now – my guess is that there are many abandoned shopping carts sitting out there after last weekend. Whatever the original reason for leaving, that unrequited shopping cart is a natural way to reengage (quickly!) with the customer, with or without a sweetener such as a discount or shipping offer. Check out several papers in the Shop.org White Paper Library on this topic, from companies such as SeeWhy and Listrak.

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The Women’s Wear Daily headline on Tuesday summed it up simply: “Cyber Monday Sees Record Shopping.” Undeterred by significant shopping just a day or two beforehand over Black Friday weekend, U.S. shoppers were clearly ready to continue snapping up deals that abounded online for Cyber Monday, rewarding many retailers with record-breaking days. Indeed, comScore tallied the day’s take at $1.25 billion (the “heaviest U.S. online spending day in history”, no less), and IBM Coremetrics reported that Cyber Monday online sales were up 33% over 2010.

All of this demonstrates a fantastic start to the season, to be sure – but now the focus turns to making the most of the 23 shopping days left. Before shipping deadlines hit in a few weeks, historical patterns tell us that we can likely expect the next two Mondays to be significant sales days also. My take is that retailers are sitting on a gold mine of sales data garnered over Black Friday weekend and Cyber Monday, which they should now use to make the most of the next few weeks:


Turn best seller data into social media, email, site content. Those rafts of Thanksgiving weekend sales data on best sellers and most popular items are perfect for “trend” messaging. Pepper social media outlets, emails, Web sites and mobile apps with this trend content – it’s up to the minute, it’s authentic (straight from fellow customers), and it’s a rich source of ideas for customers to feel they’re buying the “right” gifts this season (whether for others or for oneself).


Don’t take your eye off the paid search ball. As Michael Griffin of Adlucent noted in the 2011 Shop.org Holiday Strategy & Planning Guide, proactively managing paid search through the extended holiday shopping season is crucial. Review which categories and products spiked over Black Friday weekend and Cyber Monday, then see if it’s feasible to advertise those proactively; adjust day parting rules to reflect holiday shopping behavior (patterns may be quite different now than even a few weeks ago); and add site links to top performing categories to improve click through rates and traffic.


Remarket shopping carts to customers who didn’t quite get to “confirm order.” Maybe the customer just wasn’t sure, maybe they were shopping at multiple sites, maybe they’re still holding out for a better offer even now – my guess is that there are many abandoned shopping carts sitting out there after last weekend. Whatever the original reason for leaving, that unrequited shopping cart is a natural way to reengage (quickly!) with the customer, with or without a sweetener such as a discount or shipping offer. Check out several papers in the Shop.org White Paper Library on this topic, from companies such as SeeWhy and Listrak.