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Hello there, HTE rock stars! 😎

As we dive into the final stretch before Halloween, it’s the perfect time to leverage current trends to elevate your marketing strategy. But Halloween isn’t just a standalone event; it’s a launchpad for the upcoming shopping season. With about a month to go until Black Friday, understanding how discounts will shape the 2024 shopping season is crucial. Let’s explore how you can harness the power of market intelligence and strategic discounts to make this holiday season your most successful yet!

Let’s get started! ✨📊

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- Boost your Last-Minute Halloween Market with the Latest Trends🚀

- Key to Smarter Market Intelligence✨

- How Discounts Will Shape the 2024 Shopping Season? 🛍️

- Top Reads - Real-Time News Right For You. 📚

- HTE Job Board- Get Your Dream Job With A Click! 🌟

Boost Your Last-Minute Halloween Market with the Latest Trends🚀

Halloween is just around the corner, and there’s no better time to tap into the latest trends to maximize your campaign's success! Google has just launched the 2024 edition of Frightgeist, a treasure trove of Halloween insights based on search activity across the U.S. From costume ideas to décor trends, this year’s data can help guide your promotions and offerings for a spook-tacular boost in sales.

While it may seem like brick-and-mortar stores dominate Halloween spending, there’s a treat for e-commerce businesses too! When it comes to inspiration, consumers are turning to digital for ideas, shopping, and party planning. This means huge potential for your online store to capture their attention and boost sales during the spooky season.

So, why should you focus on Halloween?

Many brands underestimate Halloween’s sales power. But with so many people looking for costumes, decorations, recipes, and party supplies, your products could be the perfect fit. Halloween offers a unique opportunity to get creative with your promotions, engage with customers, and stand out in a crowded market.

Here’s how to leverage these trends for your last-minute campaigns:

1. Trending Costumes: A Marketing Goldmine
   This year’s most-searched costumes include iconic characters like Beetlejuice, Deadpool, and even a surprise hit—Australian breakdancer Raygun! Use these popular costumes to inspire your promotions:

• Highlight themed products or bundles inspired by these top costumes.

• Create social media content with costume ideas or DIY tutorials featuring these popular characters.

• Feature a "Best Dressed" Costume Contest for your customers on Instagram or TikTok to increase engagement.

Don't forget about the top dog costume this year: Dogpool! You can run a pet-friendly campaign showcasing dog costumes and accessories, which could help you tap into the growing market for pet-related Halloween products.

2. Decorations Drive the Market
   The U.S. Halloween Decorations Market was valued at a whopping $4.71 billion in 2023 and is projected to grow at an 11.3% CAGR through 2029! Consumers are increasingly investing in more elaborate décor, from spooky yard setups to intricate home interiors:

• Use Google’s Frightgeist data to identify trending décor items like pumpkins, witches, or ghosts, and create promotions featuring these top-selling products.

• Cater to sustainability-conscious consumers by highlighting eco-friendly décor options, tapping into the growing demand for sustainable Halloween products.

• Emphasize limited-time décor bundles that complement the latest trends and fit last-minute shoppers' needs.

3. Tapping into Themed Parties and Food Trends
   With party themes and food trends gaining traction on Frightgeist, now is the perfect time to promote party-related products:

• Offer themed party décor, recipe kits, or food bundles inspired by the latest trends.

• Promote “Halloween Party Essentials” for those looking to throw a last-minute bash. Highlight key items like decorations, snack packs, and Halloween-themed tableware.

4. Make-Up Searches: Trick Your Way to Sales
   Halloween make-up searches are trending too! Leverage these insights by promoting make-up kits, tutorials, or DIY tips for popular looks such as zombie, vampire, or “Inside Out” characters. Consider partnering with beauty influencers for last-minute Instagram Lives or TikTok videos showcasing easy-to-achieve Halloween looks with products from your store.

5. Frightgeist's U.S. Costume Map: Localize Your Campaigns
   Frightgeist also includes a state-by-state map of the U.S. showing the most popular costumes in each region. Use this data to create localized promotions:

• Tailor your emails and social ads to highlight popular costumes or products specific to certain regions.

• Personalize your campaigns to reflect the trends in different areas, offering exclusive promotions for those states.

6. Sustainability Trends
   Eco-conscious consumers are reshaping the Halloween market, with increased demand for sustainable products. Incorporate this trend into your campaigns:

• Promote eco-friendly décor, costumes, and packaging.

• Share stories about how your products align with environmental values, making them perfect for the eco-aware shopper.

With just days left until Halloween, now is the time to take advantage of these insights from Google’s Frightgeist and boost your last-minute sales. Whether it's trending costumes, Halloween party themes, or décor ideas, tapping into these trends can make your campaign a frightful success!

Key to Smarter Market Intelligence✨

Marketers use search data every day, but we often don't realize just how powerful it can be.

Let me break it down for you.

Search data can reveal all sorts of valuable insights about markets, customer behavior, and preferences. It's not just about SEO; it’s about making smarter, faster business decisions. In this article, we’ll explore how to view search data in a whole new way, what sources to pull from, and how to use it to gain impactful insights quickly.

What is Search Data?

Search data is the information collected when someone searches a public website by typing in a query. This could be for a product, information, or an answer. Think of it as people telling us directly what they want, need, or are curious about—what we call “active demand.”

When we look at search behavior across a large scale, we can better understand what’s trending in whole industries, specific niches, or even individual brands. This type of data comes straight from real people, free from the biases we might see in surveys.

Plus, search data is incredibly timely—vast amounts of data can be collected in days instead of weeks or months. And because the data comes from so many people, it gives a bigger and clearer picture than traditional small sample surveys.Looking at search behavior at scale unlocks a new way of gauging demand for whole industries, specific verticals, unique topics, individual brands, and beyond. 

Where Do We Get Search Data?

Most of us think of Google when we hear “search data”—and yes, Google is still a massive player in search. But there’s more to the story. People today, especially younger generations, are turning to other platforms like TikTok, YouTube, and Pinterest for their searches.

When we talk about search data now, we’re looking at all these platforms, not just Google.

Here’s what we can measure using search data:

• Keyword volume: How often people are actively looking for a product, brand, or topic.

• Hashtag volume: How popular and saturated a topic is across social platforms like TikTok or Instagram.

• Keyword intent: What stage people are at in their buying journey, and the type of language they use at each stage.

• Competitor research: How your brand stacks up against others in terms of demand and attention.

• Historical trends: A snapshot of how demand for certain topics or products has changed over time.

Why Does This Matter?

By understanding search data, we can make more informed decisions about where to focus our marketing efforts, what our audience is truly interested in, and how to stay ahead of competitors. It’s about meeting people where they are and responding to their real-time needs.

In short, search data isn’t just for optimizing search results—it’s a powerful tool for understanding the market and making smarter business moves.

How Discounts Will Shape the 2024 Shopping Season? 🛍️

With just about a month left until Black Friday, marketers are eager to see how this year will compare to past holiday seasons. While Amazon's recent Prime Big Deal Days (held on October 8 and 9) showed lower U.S. sales than last year, there's still hope for a record-breaking ecommerce holiday season, with Adobe projecting $240 billion in sales.

A Look at Amazon’s Prime Big Deal Days

Amazon’s October event may have had a rocky start, but there are silver linings. Despite challenging weather conditions in the Southeast and the uncertainties surrounding the upcoming election, many customers still responded positively to discounts. This suggests that marketers can benefit from testing different promotions leading up to Black Friday and throughout the holiday season to see what resonates with shoppers.

Salesforce reported that while non-Amazon retailers experienced flat sales growth globally, U.S. retailers saw a 5% decline. In contrast, Europe reported a 9% increase in sales year-over-year, hinting that U.S. shoppers might regain their buying spirit post-Election Day.

Insights from Sales Data

Despite the lower sales, Amazon's conversion rates outperformed those of its U.S. competitors during the same promotional period. According to data from PriceSpider, Amazon achieved a conversion rate of 12.6%, significantly higher than Walmart’s 8.1% and Target’s 4%. However, overall web traffic was down 2% during those dates, indicating that retailers struggled to attract the same level of engagement and purchases as in previous years.

Caila Schwartz, director of consumer insights at Salesforce, noted that the combination of weather events and election-related uncertainties likely impacted sales performance. Retailers also appeared to play it safe, with many opting for conservative discounts in preparation for the expected surge during Cyber Week.

Gift Buyers Are Looking for Deals

Prime Big Deal Days offered a sneak peek into the shopping trends that could define the rest of the season. Discounts are bigger this year, which is great news for shoppers and a strong signal for retailers to consider deeper price cuts.

During the Prime event, U.S. discount rates rose by 4% year-over-year, averaging 21%. Globally, discounts also increased, with the average hitting 18%. The top discounted categories included general apparel (27% average discount), electronics (20%), and health and beauty (17%). Notably, the electronics category saw a significant increase in discounts, rising by 25% from last year.

In the U.S., general apparel offered the biggest average discounts at 31%, followed by health and beauty at 20%, and food and beverage at 13%. Discounts in the health and beauty sector were up 27% compared to the previous year, while food and beverage discounts increased by 23%.

Looking Ahead to Cyber Week

As we approach Cyber Week (November 28 through December 2), it's important not to overlook Black Friday. Skai’s research reveals that Black Friday was the top shopping day in 2023, with 17% higher retail media spending and 21% higher ad-driven sales compared to Cyber Monday.

Seventy percent of consumers consider Black Friday a crucial date for shopping, yet 60% say they might wait until January for better deals. This shows that while the excitement around Black Friday remains strong, many shoppers are also weighing their options and looking for the best possible prices.

As we gear up for the holiday shopping season, it’s clear that discounts will play a significant role in driving sales. Retailers should be prepared to engage customers with compelling offers and adapt their strategies based on evolving consumer sentiment. With smart marketing efforts and attention to customer behavior, this holiday season has the potential to be a successful one.

Top Reads📚

Chinese influence operation targets US down ballot races, Microsoft says ~ 23 October 2024, Reuters

Google’s Mueller Dismisses Core Web Vitals Impact On Rankings ~ 23 October 2024, Search Engine Journal

Use AI to supercharge your ABM campaigns ~ 22 October 2024, MarTech

How to design landing pages that boost SEO and maximize conversions ~ 21 October 2024, Search Engine Land

Why WordPress’s CEO is spooking the internet ~ 20 October 2024, Morning Brew

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