With the triumvirate of Black Friday/Small Business Saturday/Cyber Monday in the books, retailers are taking stock of their performance. Maybe if they would read the Maritz Loyalty Marketing 2013 Gift Buying Survey they could make some quick adjustments in their loyalty programs to prepare for the rest of the holiday season and spark additional sales.
The surveyed reinforced what we already understand, that Loyalty programs continue to have influence over purchase decisions at holiday time. As Black Friday focuses on discounts and de-facto daily deals, Maritz found that 41% of the 1,000 consumers surveyed have redeemed loyalty points as a contribution towards their gift-giving. Favorite currencies exchanged for gift-giving were Amazon, Discover and MyPoints. In addition, the report found that 69% of consumers would choose to shop with a retailer where they can earn loyalty points.
While so many retailers focus on the female shopper, it was interesting to see it reported that men plan to spend 38% of their gift budget on themselves versus only 28% for females. Men don’t always know what women want, but this survey says they certainly know what they want.
Why not deliver some targeted promotions within your loyalty program for the guys in your program? The report stated that Americans expect to spend an average of $510 on gifts for friends and family this holiday season as well as $257 on gifts for themselves, so there is a lot of money at stake.