Study shows peak online shopping time difference

Peak online shopping times between Black Friday and Cyber Monday varied considerably, according to a study released Thursday by SLI Systems.

The study by SLI, a worldwide e-commerce acceleration provider for mid- to large-size Internet retailers, found Cyber Monday  saw nearly 30 percent more online shopping activity than any other shopping day during the 2014 Thanksgiving-to-Cyber Monday holiday timeframe.

Data outlining e-commerce activity across online retailers in the U.S. during the five-day period reveals that Cyber Monday at 10:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (9 p.m. Central) was the peak online shopping hour. Nearly 40 percent of the online shopping was conducted on mobile devices.

The peak online shopping time on Black Friday was 11 a.m. Eastern and 10 a.m. Central, the study showed.

SLI studied e-commerce site activity across 500 retailer websites based in the U.S., analyzing a total of 45 million queries taking place during Thanksgiving week. The study spanned all e-commerce segments from apparel to electronics and included 100 of the Internet Retailer Top 1,000 retailers. Site queries include activities such navigation page views, completed shopping carts, product page views, and product recommendation displays.

"While online shopping continues to spike on the Monday after Thanksgiving, all days of the four-day weekend including Thanksgiving Day show strong online shopping," said Tim Callan, CMO, SLI Systems. "Shopping behavior showed a clearly distinct pattern between days traditionally filled with other commitments (Thanksgiving and Monday) and days on which people were at their leisure. The first set of days shows strong evening spikes, unlike the weekend days and also pre-Thanksgiving Day shopping behavior."

Key findings from the study:

• 37 percent of online shopping during the 2014 five-day period was conducted on mobile devices
• Peak online shopping hours for the five-day period:
  • Cyber Monday at 10:00 p.m. EST
  • Black Friday at 11:00 a.m. EST
  • Thanksgiving Day at 10:00 p.m. EST
  • Saturday at noon and 9:00 p.m. EST
  • Sunday at 8:00 p.m
• In 2014, Cyber Monday saw nearly 30 percent more online shopping than Black Friday – an uptick from 2013 when the difference between the two key days was 27 percent
• Online shopping on Thanksgiving Day 2014 was 37 percent lower than on Black Friday
• Sunday (Nov 30, 2014) activity was only 9 percent lower than that of Black Friday

14 Tips for Leaders Using Social Media

Leadership likes to be introspective. It also likes to appear pleasant and inoffensive. As public sensibilities grow keener, this becomes more difficult. However, it is smart to foster a corporate culture of diversity and sensitivity.

So, when it comes to social media, should you, as a CEO, manager, consultant, business owner, independent contractor, entrepreneur, only post things that have a positive impact on others, or things that move you toward your goals?

This sounds like a good policy, but an occasional remark about a hot political topic or news item is probably okay. In fact, it may be considered mandatory, if it ties in somehow with your industry or field of expertise. This is a powerful SEO technique.

The best way to deal with a controversial issue is to mildly state a question, make a unique off-the-cuff observation, or point out a fact that may have escaped notice.

There is a way to deal with divisive issues, especially when you simply talk about a technical aspect of the situation, without taking sides or provoking inflammatory responses.

As an example, when the Affordable Care Act website was first released to the public there was great controversy and heated debate about the provider of the website and the IT team. At one point, I did say a few things about technical aspects of the website and its dysfunctionality, without saying anything at all about Obamacare itself.

Tying in with a controversial news item can be essential for SEO and thought leadership, especially when it's related to your field of expertise. It's a great way to gain a competitive advantage, since most companies are negligent in this regard.

A CEO, manager, business owner, consultant should be on Facebook in a manner that fulfills the following objectives.

The 14 Tips

(1) Share your expertise (from a customer-centric How You Can ______" viewpoint), your corporate values, and company participation in local organizations and community benevolence.

(2) Provide answers to common questions, and specific inquiries, related to your industry. Ask your receptionist, sales clerks, and customer service staff what people are asking about all the time.

(3) Respond to news items, building a bridge from the topic to your expertise or products, whenever possible.

(4) Be warm, human, approachable, genuinely engaged in the Facebook community.

(5) Click like, comment, and share on other people's posts.

(6) Avoid grinding out relentless ad messages, event promotions, and sales hype.

(7) Discuss your personal interests once in a while: your hobbies, music tastes, favorite movies, restaurants you like, artists you admire, jokes, anecdotes and experiences.

(8) Answer questions Facebook users ask when you have special knowledge related to the topic.

(9) Photos of company staff at fundraisers, concerts, local high school basketball games, conferences, trade shows, charity events.

(10) Photos of product in use, meeting the needs of customers.

(11) Videos of your TV commercials, with embed code so brand loyalists and fans can display your commercials on their own blogs.

(12) Videos of CEO serving as keynote speaker at prestigious affair.

(13) Genuine testimonials of satisfied, uncompensated customers (no bribing them to give glowing review).

(14) Clever use of extreme strategic clarity, aka “self-deprecation marketing.”

AN EXAMPLE:

"Product A is not designed for commercial, all day, all night snow plowing, but if you just want to clear your driveway and a few neighbors, this device is perfect. Easy to use, affordable, and rugged enough for your requirements."

This is how I was trained to write direct marketing campaigns when I was working at Garden Way Marketing Associates, the in-house ad agency for Troy-Bilt garden tillers and power machinery.

They also used the CEO, Dean Leath, as a real, living cult of personality strategy. His smiling, home-spun face radiated honesty on all the mailings and ads. "Just One Hand" was their slogan. The big, beefy tiller was so easy to use, all you really needed was one hand to guide it.

So they made wild-sounding but true claims about the product line, but when it came to model selection, a gritty, brutal honesty about "Good for this, but not for that" aspects to enable customers to make a good choice.

Too much self-admiration hyperbole (exaggeration) will wreck your credibility with customers. They are sick of corporate bragging and strutting. Customers now favor the simple, humble, but confident supplier.

Keep these 14 recommendations in mind – and your use of social media will be effective for both brand loyalty and sales.

Peoria Players to come alive with 'The Sound of Music'

There are few musicals in existence with more well-known songs than “The Sound of Music.” For decades, this musical based on the true story of the Von Trapp family has been one of America’s favorites.

But it wasn’t until she met the iconic star of the film version of “The Sound of Music” that Mary Ellen Ulrich had any desire to direct it.

“I never really wanted to because I love directing shows with a bunch of kids. This only has a few. But when I got to actually meet and talk to Julie Andrews in New York a few years ago, I decided this was a show I wanted to direct,” Ulrich said.

Peoria Players Theatre gave her the chance this year and “The Sound of Music” opens a nine-show run at 7:30 p.m. Friday. The show continues at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 6, 10, 11, 12 and 13 and at 2 p.m. on Dec. 7, 13 and 14.

Tickets are $18 for adults and $12 for patrons 18 and under. They can be purchased online at www.peoriaplayers.org or by calling 688-4473.

Turning away more children than she’s used to doing was tough, she added. “So I proceeded to double cast some of the kids’ roles. They all are equally talented,” Ulrich said.

“The Sound of Music” is based on the Von Trapp family’s flight from Austria in World War II to escape the Nazi regime. The head of the family of singers, Capt. Georg Von Trapp, is being forced into the Nazi naval forces and he and his new wife, the former novice Maria, plot to escape with the help of the abbey where Maria once lived.

During a recent dress rehearsal, Ulrich beamed while listening to the 23 women she cast as nuns for the musical. “I haven’t heard nuns sing like that since the 1950s,” she said. “Back then they were singing in Latin, so I don’t even know what they were saying. I just know it was beautiful and so are my nuns in this show.”

“The Sound of Music” is produced by several theatre groups, from high school to community theatres, and it seems it is done at least once every few years. But Ulrich said she didn’t worry about it being done too often when she submitted it for consideration for this season.

“I don’t think it gets done in Peoria very often at all. It has been several years. And besides, people love this show. They love the songs. It’s a family feel-good show that never gets old,” she said.

Some of the most memorable songs in Broadway history can be found in “The Sound of Music,” including “My Favorite Things,” “Do-Re-Mi,” “Edelweiss,” “Climb Every Mountain,” and, of course, the title song.

“I guarantee you people will leave the theatre singing one or another,” Ulrich said.

She said she is thrilled with the talent of her cast of 54 people, which includes several local community theatre veterans.

Dedra Kaiser, who was Mrs. Smith in the Players’ production of “Meet Me in St. Louis” last year, portrays Maria.  Bruce Colligan, whose lengthy community theatre resume includes lead roles in “Chicago” and “Beauty and the Beast” at Corn Stock Theatre and “Will Rogers’ Follies” and “Ragtime” at Peoria Players, portrays Capt. Von Trapp.

The Von Trapp children are portrayed by Pauline Parkhurst as Liesl, Tyler Skibinski as Friedrich, Grace Blume and Rachel Kocher as Louisa, Gavyne Mitchell and Aidan Khoury as Kurt, Faustina Hoerdeman and Selah Schertz as Brigitta, Molly McNutt and Keliah Schertz as Marta and Margot McNutt as Gretl.

Anita Rowden portrays Mother Abbess, Theresa Olson is Sister Margaretta, Laura Buckley is Sister Sophia and Julie Simmons is Sister Berthe.

Bryan Blanks portrays Max Detweiller, Tonya Davis is Elsa Schraeder, Andrew Harlan is Rolf Gruber, Jarrod Barth is Franz and Roxann Hendrickson is Frau Schmidt. Greg Blume portray Admiral Von Schreiber and Bobby Khoury is Herr Zeller.

Ashley Schlaitweyer is the music director.

“This may be the best cast I’ve ever had for a show. We have true singers, we have music teachers. Certain shows, you know, just naturally bring out the best singers. This is one of them. It has been so much fun,” she said.

This is the ninth consecutive year Ulrich has had a show at Peoria Players, including a couple children’s shows, and she wants to keep the streak going. “Hey, when you get to be my age you have to do it when you can. Besides, I love directing,” she said, while declining to reveal her age.

“I just want our audiences to enjoy the show, let it take them away for a while.”

FrizziToon: You wanna do what?