The happy holiday inbox:
Last minute tips for spreading the cheer with email this year

It’s not too late! Last-minute shopping continues to generate significant holiday profits. Year over year, retail revenue was up 5.5 percent during the last weekend before Christmas 2010, and the National Retail Federation confirmed that approximately 38 percent of shoppers planned to buy their last-minute gifts online.

Over the last couple of years, a strong multichannel-focused holiday plan emerged with email at the center of most advertising campaigns; and the push to capture last-minute buyers drove volumes higher. Email volume surged 34 percent from Dec 21 to Dec 31 last year.