Its the Most Wonderful Time of the Year
Its not even Thanksgiving and I’ve already got the winter holidays top of mind. Perhaps its the cold front that has moved through Florida giving me hope that Im not going to have to use my A/C for a couple months, the fact that all the retail stores Ive been in have their holiday decorations up or the fact that my inbox is being filled with all sorts of deals enticing me to shop.
What I am interested in seeing based on state of our current economy and trends of consumers spending less, will the retailers do more this year in regards to sales and specials or will they just get smarter? I stumbled into a retail store yesterday to pick up a few purchases and along with my purchase I was given a giftcard that is worth $10, $50, $100 or $500. The catch? I have to go back to the store between December 1-24th to discover the value of the giftcard, meaning I have to purchase something to see what its worth. I have to admit, they’ve totally got me sold. Even though the likelihood that the gift card will be the lowest value of $10, Im still hopeful that maybe Ill be one of the lucky ones. If Im not, I still have a strategy of my own in place, we cant just let these marketers outsmart us 
. My plan is to purchase something small and if they happen to reveal to me that its worth $500 then of course Ill gladly find a way to spend it so we are both winners unless of course they hide all the $10 valued items that day.
Is this strategy one to encourage consumers to spend more in a down economy or have I just blocked these strategies out in the past? Stayed tuned for more holiday email marketing favorites.
Posted by MindComet on Nov. 17, 2008