Loyalty Goes Social in Travel

The travel industry has begun to effectively leverage the many facets of Social Media and its applications to their core business. In many cases, social media has completely changed the way travel brands are rewarding consumers for their loyalty. For example, Jet Blue’s Go Places app, rewards customers for checking-in at Jet Blue Terminals using Facebook Places. Customers unlock official badges and reward points for real rewards. Tripadvisor recognizes its most loyal reviewers and community members by featuring them in its Tripadvisor’s star reviewers and their reviews / forum posts. 

Turkey Stuffing and Shopping

If you see family members tapping away at their smartphones or tablets during Thanksgiving dinner, they could possibly be sneaking in their first holiday purchases. Mobile will account for 31 percent of online sales on Turkey Day, compared to 21 percent in 2013, according to an Adobe holidays shopping forecast recently released. That represents nearly a 48 percent year-over-year increase, and they build on 2014's biggest digital marketing trend. Smartphones and tablets will account for $1.6 billion in sales on Thanksgiving, Black Friday and Cyber Monday combined, according to the Adobe forecast report, which predicted that those three days would generate approximately $6.5 billion in sales across mobile devices and desktops. Adobe processed and presented its data in its third annual Holiday Retail Report, which uses predictive analytics. The software giant looked at more than a trillion visits on 4,500 retail websites from the past six years—as well as 20 billion visits from last month—to arrive at its findings.

In addition, here are a few more of Adobe's stats that should interest not only marketers but shoppers too. 

• Online prices will hit rock bottom on Thanksgiving, lower than during any other 24-hour period in the holiday season. The average discount will be 24 percent.
• Sales in November and December are expected to account for roughly 27 percent of the total U.S. annual online sales.
• There will be five times as many out-of-stock messages on Cyber Monday compared to previous years.
• According to Adobe's survey of more than 400 U.S. consumers, 25 percent of them will consult social media before buying gift, while 40 percent of 18- to 34-year-olds are likely to use social networks for gift ideas.