September & October (to date) have seen hard offers soar
as marketers seek to beat competitors for their share of the orders from the
early-bird “organised Christmas gift buyers”.
Free delivery offers have rocketed in popularity with many
now only seeking a relatively low qualifying order value – in the range £20-£25,
with the fashion sector also promoting free returns as well as other discount incentives
to those who spend over £50. This does seem to be the season of reckoning and
even those who have held out against offering free delivery (and lambasted
others for eroding margins) are jumping on the bandwagon. The offer of free
gifts has been far less prevalent with the money off/discount offer finding greater
favour (and take up, we imagine) having more of the desired impact.
Of 85 catalogues received by us, 24 per cent are
of a smaller format this year – no doubt to minimise postage costs, and 9 per cent
are on a much lighter paper stock than comparable editions last year.
We sense there are many tests being undertaken and as a
result will be introducing a much more detailed study of the catalogues in the
mail, and being distributed as inserts, from our next (January/Feburary issue).
We will also be monitoring our email inboxes for promotions
– this particular week 21st-25th October having been an absolute record for
volume – with more than 420 separate communications received in one inbox alone
from direct merchants and multichannel retailers in the UK and overseas.
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