Newswise — PHILADELPHIA, Nov. 10, 2017 — Cookie-baking and front yard-decorating remain staple holiday traditions around this time of year. But they’ve certainly got company.
More consumers than ever are seeking out sales during the holiday season. And two faculty members from Temple University’s Fox School of Business are available to discuss the phenomena of Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
Last year, more than 154 million consumers filled their online and in-person shopping carts on Black Friday, according to data from the National Retail Federation. A separate study, by Adobe, found that nearly $3.5 billion was spent on Cyber Monday 2016 — making it the single-biggest online shopping day in history.
Black Friday annually causes consumers to cut short their Thanksgiving dinners to stand in line from sunset to sunrise, all in the name of large-scale shopping discounts.
Dr. Subodha Kumar is available to discuss topics pertaining to Black Friday (Nov. 24) including: consumer behaviors, retail and social media analytics, and price-matching tactics. Another area of his research explores multi-channel retailing.
“That, in particular, is the investigation of a consumer’s decision to shop at brick-and-mortar locations over online stores, or vice versa,” said Kumar, the Laura H. Carnell Professor of Marketing at the Fox School. “What I have found is that in-person shopping locations can compete; they simply need to change gears. For example, brick-and-mortar stores can capitalize and create a buzz around brand-specific items that are available only in person—thus giving the consumer something that an online retailer can not.”
Cyber Monday 2016 outperformed sales for that day in 2015 by 12.1%, according to Adobe. Does that portend more sales for this year’s Cyber Monday (Nov. 27)?
Amy Lavin believes so. An assistant professor of management information systems, Lavin is available to discuss Cyber Monday-related trends like digital marketing strategies and the growing popularity of third-party cashback apps that offer real monetary returns for consumers in exchange for data related to their purchasing habits.
“In these arrangements, shoppers get the sense that they’re getting a deal, and companies like Ebates receive data about your purchase,” said Lavin, who leads Fox’s online graduate-degree program in digital marketing. “The data, for example, can be used to upsell consumers on items they may like but might not have previously considered.”
Interview requests: Email Christopher A. Vito at [email protected]
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