Key take-aways:

• Many retailers are opening earlier this year compared to previous years for Black Friday shopping to capture early consumer spending dollars – with many retailers starting sales on Thursday, Thanksgiving day
• Retailers have been offering better online deals for Black Friday
• We are seeing a lot of consumer optimism this holiday season, according to Experian Marketing Services Consumer Expectation Index (CEI)

Experian Marketing Services will be presenting marketing solutions and techniques to attendees at several sessions along with some of our leading client brands. Here’s a rundown:

• What Do Users Want From Mobile Commerce Sites?With the increasing penetration of smart phones providing the ability to grab consumers on the go, getting your mobile commerce site right can pay huge dividends. A panel of leading brands including HauteLook, Econsultancy and Experian Marketing Services will discuss an array of successful m-commerce strategies, tactics and best practices.
  Alok Kapur, vice president, Global Head of Mobile, Experian Marketing Services
  Monday, October 15, 11:15 am
• Supercharging Your Energy – How Duke Energy Changed How We View PowerLearn how Duke Energy put the customer at the center of their strategy and created programs to help them spend less on energy. Specific examples will be shared to illustrate how Duke Energy and Experian Marketing Services partnered to drive customer value, loyalty and customer satisfaction, leading to a growth in overall company revenues while encouraging people to spend less on energy.
  Rick Erwin, President, Data and Analytics Division, Experian Marketing Services
  Joe Cunningham, Manager, Market and Customer Insights, Duke Energy
  Tuesday, October 16, 2:00 pm
• Segmentation as a Strategy – Internally and Externally, a Zappos Case StudyZappos, known for its customer service obsession, relies on customer segmentation data which is used in all areas of the company, including operations, product management, merchandising and marketing. This case study will illustrate how strategies are developed, and how the entire company aligns to achieve actions and results.
  Rick Erwin, President, Data and Analytics Division, Experian Marketing Services
  Amara Silao, Senior Director, Retail Operations and Product Management, Zappos
  Dinesh Gaur, Analytics Manager, Zappos
  Chris Peake, Director, Product Management Customer Experience & Data, Zappos
  Lisa Archambault, Display Marketing Manager, Zappos
  Wednesday, October 17, 10:00 am
• Database Marketing Certification – Attaining Marketing Database ROI
  This session brings together data and technology experts to describe how best-in-class solutions within an integrated data management platform support data flow and customer intelligence delivery for more effective customer engagement across all channels.
  Marcus Tewksbury, Experian Marketing Services
  Paul Manderville, Experian Marketing Services’ Conversen
  Wednesday, October 17, 1:00 pm

If you’re at the show and would like to learn more, please stop by Experian’s Booth 815 or visit the DMA event agenda.

According to a new study by Experian Marketing Services, niche social networks significantly increased their market share of all visits to social sites, with Instgram and Pinterest leading the pack.

The following graph illustrates the global growth between July 2011 and July 2012, based on share of visits to all sites by country:

Other niche social networks that have experienced significant gain include Stock Twits in the US, Redidt in Australia, and FanPop in the UK.

According to Bill Tancer, head of Global Research at Experian Marketing Services, the growth of Instagram and Pinterest over the past year has been successful because they haven’t tried to be ‘another Facebook.’ Both networks are image based – something people love and relate to better than just words. For retail brands, sites like Pinterest present a great opportunity to promote products in a compelling and organized way to a wide group of people, globally.

Deeper functionally, combined with a lower technical barrier to entry, will result in new leaders in social media being created, accepted and used within a matter of days – compared to the rate of adoption happening now over the course of weeks and months.

Also included in the study for July 2011 to July 2012:

What social networks do you use most frequently? Do the results of this study surprise you at all? Feel free to share your thoughts with our readers in the comments section below.

The top 20 cities for sweats consumption:

1. Philadelphia, PA
2. Hartford, CT
3. Pittsburgh, PA
4. Lafayette, LA
5. Laredo, TX
6. Boston, MA
7. New York, NY
8. Los Angeles, CA
9. Victoria, TX
10. Scranton, PA
11. Salt Lake City, UT
12. Marquette, MI
13. Milwaukee, WI
14. Washington, DC
15. Austin, TX
16. Watertown, MA
17. Jacksonville, FL
18. Idaho Falls, ID
19. Providence, RI
20. Chicago, IL

Perhaps these purchases are fueled by the desire to travel in comfort. Spirit Airlines passengers are the biggest buyers of sweats, followed by Jet Blue, Continental and US Air. Foreign airlines have really high sweat purchase numbers too ¾ especially — Asian carriers. On the flipside, Southwest Airlines passengers buy the fewest number of sweat apparel items.

Using QR Codes on print media affords the opportunity to inexpensively customize a print piece and better measure who responds, how soon, and how often, to an offer.

But given the widespread use of digital technologies, many also enjoy the unobtrusiveness print media offers. This gives marketers the perfect opportunity to fine tune multichannel campaigns to incorporate digital technologies through offline efforts.

Using QR Codes on print media affords the opportunity to inexpensively customize a print piece and better measure who responds, how soon, and how often, to an offer.

With 8 percent of mobile phone owners stating they scan barcodes and QR Codes with their phones, according to a new Mobile Report  from Experian Simmons, it’s a perfect opportunity to incorporate the two tactics.

Gina McDowell, senior product specialist for Experian Marketing Services, discusses additional benefits of stamping direct mail with QR Codes and the potential business value of doing so in Direct Marketing News. You can view the full article here: http://www.dmnews.com/stamp-your-direct-mail-with-qr-codes/article/209631/?DCMP=EMC-DMN_DigitalInsider.

Join in the conversation.  How are you using QR codes in your integrated marketing efforts?
 

 As smart phone adoption grows, activities not possible in recent history will continue to become the norm. Ten percent of the American population has performed a shopping-related activity including researching products and comparing prices. The most common items consumers want to buy via their cell phones are tickets to movies and events, travel services and games/toys.

“The number is just a fraction of the population, but being that it’s such an early trend, it’s got a lot of room to grow, “ John Fetto, senior marketing manager for Experian Simmons told Aaron Baar from Marketing Daily.
Consumers want to use their phones to make a purchase. As of May 23, 2011, 15 percent of all adult mobile phone owners were interested in a service that would allow them to make a purchase in a store, up from 10 percent in February 2009.

Read the full interview between John Fetto and Media Post’s Marketing Daily: http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=155586.

Download a copy of the newly released 2011 Mobile report from Experian Simmons.

Today’s mobile phone users (91 percent of Americans) represent a potential pool of customers for saavy retailers.

For marketers, this means getting ahead of the curve and understanding how consumers are categorized by phone use, how each category uses the technology and how marketers can best connect with prospects and customers.
“While not all mobile phone users are buying products and services through a mobile phone, they are using the devices to shop in ways that can lead to purchases in stores, or through ecommerce sites,” said John Fetto, Experian Simmons senior marketing manager. “A retailer must understand the dynamics of these customer segments in order to devise an effective mobile strategy.”

John spoke with Internet Retailer and discussed the 2011 Mobile Consumer Report and what it means to marketers. Read the full interview here: http://www.internetretailer.com/2011/08/02/33-million-consumers-shop-mobile-phone.

This year, retailers will be more cautious as expected growth is estimated at 3 percent, according to experts speaking at the Reuters Retail Summit in New York City. The majority of this growth will likely occur early in the season as greater numbers of consumers search for deals earlier than years past.

“Internet searches for ‘Black Friday’ started in the first week of November in 2009 and in the week ended October 23 in 2010,” said Bill Tancer, general manager of global research at Experian Marketing Services.

Tancer predicts they’ll start even earlier this year and that consumers expect a deal and are willing to search for it earlier. “There’s just been some wild fluctuations, just within the first quarter, of how consumers are viewing the economy,” said Tancer. “A lot of consumers don’t know what to think.”

Read the full articles about economic recovery and what retailers can expect at Reuters:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/25/us-retail-summit-idUSTRE75O0WZ20110625
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/29/us-retail-summit-holiday-idUSTRE75S3K820110629

For many marketers, segmentation is like breathing – it comes naturally and is a part of everything they do. To better connect with your target audience, use a good segmentation system with multiple layers that provides a breakdown of essential information while tying in lifestyle and transactional data.

Consider marketing to parents. The most basic information includes demographics such as age, income, presence of children, etc. Add to that lifestyle information – the family has two working parents who rely heavily on the Internet for research and purchase convenience. The transactional data can really set apart where a parent falls on the parenting lifecycle. For example, is the parent still purchasing diapers and feeding supplies for their infant or bedding, towels and a coffee maker that might indicate their “baby” is headed to college? Both parents may look similar when comparing demographic and lifestyle information but the transactional data differentiates their needs.

According to Experian Marketing Services:

• Parents use the Internet far more than the average American
• Moms are 34% more likely to buy products online and 33% more likely to participate in a blog than the average adult.

“Marketers are targeting more carefully based on both the parents’ life stage and consumer behavior,” says Jan Jindra, senior product market manager at Experian Marketing Services.

“Younger parents, and those of smaller children, have different information needs than parents of older or college-age children. It’s not only the life stage they’re in, but the lifestyle,” Jindra says.

Read the full article and check out the latest in marketing to parents in DMNews: http://www.dmnews.com/household-brands-observe-parents-needs-in-defining-segmentation-tactics/article/205902/.