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In September of 2007, Oneupweb looked at twelve “hot” holiday products and websites. The goal of our study was to examine how each was, or was not, using social media to improve holiday traffic and sales. We also looked at some major competitors of these products and brands to see what social initiatives they were utilizing.
Our ensuing pre-holiday study found that each of the hot products/retailers had creatively and extensively used online social media, while not all of their competitors had followed suit. Social marketing strategies and tactics being employed included blogs, podcasts, forums, interactive video tours, social networks and virtual worlds. The study took a verbal snapshot of these activities and those of some major competitors. We then followed their implementation throughout the holiday season with the intent of doing this post-holiday analysis.
This follow-up, post-holiday study examines these same online retailers and their evolving social media strategies and tactics to see who did what online and how well it worked. For each marketer we posed a series of questions we wanted to examine as the season progressed. In addition, we identified three general questions we would be investigating. These are:
1. Will elements of social media be integrated into the marketing mix as shoppers go online this holiday season?
2. What are competitors doing?
3. Will the integration of social media into holiday marketing campaigns impact the sales of these products?
The 2007 shopping season fell short of expectations. According to Comscore, overall retail sales rose approximately 5 percent, while online sales recorded a healthy (but lower than expected) 19 percent growth. Shoppers made their purchases later, looking for bargains. More importantly, they passed up a number of luxury items such as jewelry and watches, opting for more practical household goods. The “flowers, greeting cards and gifts” category was down by 19 percent while sales from practical items such as furniture and appliances—items often purchased offline—were up a remarkable 70 percent.
Without definitive sales figures for each of the hot retailers, we focused on their online traffic and that of their competitors. Generally, more traffic equals more conversions and sales. This analysis provides an interesting and, at times, illuminating context to look at these marketers’ activities during the 2007 holiday season.
Five of the websites we examined in September of 2007 maintained and/or built upon the social media strategies they initiated prior to the holiday season. Each of these companies recorded brisk holiday traffic and/or sales. These are:
Nintendo Wii
Coach
Pronto
Pleo
Sephora
Five other sites chose, with varying success, to change their social media strategies, abandon some tactics and refine others. Some, such as Starbucks, were responding to market pressures and a declining economy, while others such as Target proactively created new initiatives. These included a separate online toy catalog with a “sticky note” feature that lets consumers add comments and questions on any catalog page. Webkinz expanded in popularity and sales aided by their child-friendly social network. But a new strategy to add paid advertising to the network has caused a parental backlash that could present some long-term consequences.
Two of the sites in our study—Taryn Rose and A Thousand Splendid Suns—effectively abandoned their online social media initiatives. Taryn Rose’s “blog” devolved into a “flog”—a simulated blog with no dates, comments and few entries. As of January 2, 2008, Taryn Rose’s MySpace page was down to three friends, with no links to her site or comments on her profile. Not only did author Khaled Hosseini fail to update the social media within his site, he missed a huge promotional opportunity by failing to add content or links relevant to the release of the movie version of his first book, The Kite Runner. He could have personally addressed some of the negative publicity surrounding the risks his movie presented to the child stars, whose families were threatened in Afghanistan.
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