Will Black Friday Overtake Boxing Day?

BLACK FRIDAY

Black Friday has been a traditional holiday shopping day in the US for decades. In recent years, however, it's been adopted by UK retailers as a new shopping holiday--an opportunity to promote super-bargains and attract crowds of shoppers (measured by footfall and clicks). Is Black Friday about to overtake Boxing Day as a major shopping day?

According to the BBC, Amazon.com originally popularized Black Friday among UK online shoppers. These days, most High Street stores and e-commerce retailers see Black Friday as a day to promote low prices on in-demand merchandise and attract holiday shoppers who want to get started on their lists.

By some estimates, the level of sales on Black Friday 2014 will be double that of 2013.

For John Lewis, Black Friday 2013 was the retailer's busiest online shopping day--more than twice as busy as the previous shopping record!

Singles Day = #1 Online Shopping Day

Not Christmas, not Black Friday, not even Valentine's Day can compare to the online shopping frenzy of China's Singles Day.

On November 11 (all ones, 11/11, get it?), singles browse for bargains and shop (usually online, increasingly via mobile). And shop. And shop.

Alibaba--by far the world's largest e-commerce business, with wholesale and retail sites for shoppers in China and beyond--has helped fuel this shopping extravaganza. In 2009, it introduced an array of Singles Day shoppers' specials on its various sites. The promotions were so successful that Alibaba eventually trademarked 'double eleven' and continued to expand the scope of its marketing.

In 2014, Alibaba's marketing for Singles Day began during October, with preorders at special prices. Once again, the company's extensive reach and promotional clout paid off: It recorded one-day sales of £5.9 billion on Singles Day, a hefty increase over the 2013 results. Alibaba is already looking ahead to even better results in 2015 as Chinese consumers exercise their buying power via mobile devices.

Alibaba's complex network of marketplaces is designed, the company explains, as a business ecosystem with a specific purpose:

We operate an ecosystem where all participants – consumers, merchants, third-party service providers and others – have an opportunity to prosper.

Peppa Pig Goes Global

Peppa Pig, just 10 years old this year, has taken the preschool branding world by storm. Her animated TV series is produced in UK studios and shown worldwide. Peppa even has her own Royal Mail stamp and a theme park, Peppa Pig World, in Hampshire. Coming soon, Peppa's part of a theme park in Milan will be even larger as the brand becomes popular throughout Europe.

Peppa merchandise is a multimillion-pound business. In the UK alone, Peppa products account for £200m in revenue. Worldwide, Peppa products are worth £640m in revenue. This turnover includes revenue from a deal with Mattel's Fisher-Price toy unit.

From January, 2015, Peppa will be in Walmart stores, part of a deal by EntertainmentOne with Jazwares to expand the brand in the US market. Peppa also has new retail agreements in Paris and the French market, building on the brand's higher awareness and preference.

Watch for Peppa on TV, in stores, in theme parks, online, and wherever parents and grandparents are looking for a fun brand suitable for preschool boys and girls.

Grocery retailing challenge: Competitors as stakeholders

Stakeholders (also known as publics) are groups such as community residents, media representatives, stockholders, financial analysts and others who have an interest in or some influence on marketing performance. Obviously, customers, employees, managers, suppliers, government regulators and others can directly influence a business and its performance, meaning they're particularly important stakeholders.

As I say in my texts and here on the blog, competitors must also be considered stakeholders, because every rival can, directly or indirectly, affect the performance of its competitors. This is particularly true in the grocery retailing industry, where activities such as price-match guarantees directly affect what competitors do.

Sainsbury's situation shows this in action. To be competitive, Sainsbury (with 1200 UK stores) has to offer good quality at good prices, as well as making sure its stores are the right size and in the most convenient locations for customers.

Its competitors are using price wars as a key element in their marketing plans--which puts the pressure on Sainsbury to cut prices, too.

Sainsbury recently complained that a Tesco matching price promotion unfairly compared some Sainsbury products with Tesco products. The high court disagreed. But taking this to court indicates that Sainsbury is concerned about the effects of Tesco's price policies.

In fact, Sainsbury just announced a major price-cut promotion of its own to fight back against what competitors like Tesco and Aldi are doing to attract customers and increase market share. Competitors are, as this shows, influencing Sainsbury's decisions and performance.

Seeking to analyse its strengths, weaknesses, threats and opportunities, Sainsbury has revealed that up to 25% of its stores are either the wrong size or not in the right location. That presents a challenge because of the company's real estate commitments. Can Sainsbury improve its financial position, fix its store situation, keep prices low and improve profits? Stay tuned.

Launching Coca-Cola Life and Pepsi True

In the latest cola wars between the world's largest soft-drink marketers, Coca-Cola Life and Pepsi True are launching into the 'battle of the stevias'.

These are neither zero-calorie colas with artificial sweeteners nor full-calorie colas with sugar or fructose syrup. They're 'mid-cal colas' featuring stevia, a plant-derived sweetener, typically targeting millennials who want to avoid a lot of chemical ingredients.


At left, Coca-Cola Life in bottles.

At right, a can of Pepsi True.


Note the use of green labels, which consumers usually associate with natural foods. What does this mean for dueling colas? A UK creative exec comments: 'The problem of sending confusing messages to consumers is they tend to avoid brands rather than try to decode them'. 

Coca-Cola Life is launching in the UK with sampling, outdoor and transit ads and of course digital marketing. When The Grocer tasted Coca-Cola Life and compared its flavour with other Coke products, the editors preferred Life. A key question is whether this new product will attract new customers or take them from existing Coke products.

Pepsi True is currently available through Amazon in the US, but will soon be on store shelves there. Pepsi marketers view this product as a niche item because it appeals to a relatively small subsegment of soft-drink buyers. 

Battle of the holiday adverts begins

With the yearend holiday shopping season about to begin, UK retailers are unveiling their new adverts and warm-hearted campaign themes.

The first was John Lewis, which put an adorable child and best friend, Monty the penguin, into the spotlight. Posted on YouTube, the advert attracted 4.5 million views in less than 48 hours.

This new holiday advert follows the animal friends theme that won John Lewis's bear and hare advert so many holiday views in 2013. Strong on emotion, no hard-sell, focus on positive attitudes and feelings.

Next was Marks & Spencer, which renamed itself Magic & Sparkle as it revealed its holiday fairies advert with a tweet:

Introducing a little Christmas Magic and Sparkle. #FollowTheFairies https://t.co/yE2NJi8Rwx
— M&S (@marksandspencer) November 7, 2014

Marks & Spencer is relying more heavily on social media this holiday season to capture the attention of tablet and mobile users who browse and buy with a click or fingertip.

Multichannel strategies are a must for 2014 holiday success. Watch for more social media marketing and more special adverts as countdowns to the holidays (and, earlier, the special window displays) continue.

Retailers reveal consumer behaviour trends

Supermarkets and other retailers collect a massive amount of data about what shoppers buy, when they buy, how they pay, how often they shop, what time of day they shop and other details that help them analyse and understand consumer behaviour.

One of Tesco's highly valuable assets, in fact, is its Dunnhumby division, the tech engine behind its ability to utilise big data collected from Clubcard users' purchases.

John Lewis recently released a listing of trends based on its analysis of customer purchasing patterns and marketing research survey results.

This is the first in an annual series of reports designed to reveal changes in consumer behaviour and explain the implications.

Introducing the report, Mark Price of Waitrose told The Telegraph: 'People are buying food for now. The notion that you are going to go and push a trolley around for the week is a thing of the past. It is fundamentally changing the market'.

In other words, UK shoppers are no longer preparing menus in advance and shopping for food once a week. Pressed for time, they're buying weekday convenience and, often, planning for food-on-the-go (not necessarily fast food).

On weekends, however, UK consumers like to splash out on leisurely feasts. Bold flavours are increasingly in favour. Many use social media to share food photos and comments about what they like and don't like, which can accelerate and intensify reactions to food products--and to stores.

With better knowledge of consumer buying habits and priorities, retailers can design stores to meet the new needs and order products that fit current lifestyles. Marketing in all media will reflect these influences and position the retailers as 'the' place to shop for today's shoppers.