I’m quite sure Halloween has evolved to become an official observance and celebration of the coming of the retail-crazed holiday season. Every year at this time, thousands of rosy-cheeked retailers and shoppers sit in the mellow glow of their computer monitors, jacked up on chocolate, caramel, and nougat, reading article upon article about the impending nationwide shopping spree. Like a puppy on his first car ride, we are elated at the possibilities, intrigued by the new happenings, and just a little nauseated by the gravity of it all (not to mention the candy overdose).
Holiday Shopping Trends
Today, Matt Brownell of The Street listed 10 interesting holiday shopping trends for 2011. Several of the 10 address themes we’ve been talking about a lot around here: the shift from brick-and-mortar to e-retail, free shipping, smartphone use, and more. Brownell had some other notable predictions. Because last year retailers found themselves falling short on sales projections and were left with extra inventory, this time around they will be more careful when stocking, meaning popular items could be hard to find. Brownell also foresees an unprecedented amount of price comparing.
Read more at thestreet.com.
Holiday SEO Tips
The merry holiday season provides great opportunity for gluttony, consumerism, and… SEO. According to a new article at Search Engine People, November and December are great times to drive traffic by customizing your content for holiday-related searches. The article advises that leveraging successful keywords from the previous year–as well as the names of bestselling Amazon products–is a great way to “kindle” the flames of SEO. Retailers can also fulfill the “call of duty” by creating fun holiday-specific content, such as seasonal buying guides. Finally, marketers and merchandisers can solidify their “jobs” by combining products into compelling gift sets. iPad.
Read more at searchenginepeople.com.
