Years ago, I remember how exciting it was to go Christmas shopping with my mom in downtown Chicago and admire the decorations in the windows along Marshall Fields on State Street. The year this picture was taken I was in third grade and I distinctly remember I was on the fence about the whole Santa thing. Just in case he really was the one behind the gifts, I went to pay him a visit with my little brother because well, you know—I had to keep up the act for my younger brother.
This holiday season, I haven’t been to the malls very much at all. A lot of my shopping is online and I’m not alone. According to IBM’s U.S. Retail Cyber Monday Report 2014, online sales grew 8.5 percent compared to 2013, with mobile sales up 27.6 percent year-over-year. Sales on the Maritz reward site on Cyber Monday were up significantly compared to last year, and on our site the desktop still dominates over mobile. 95% of sales on our site are from people redeeming their points from their PCs. On Cyber Monday our average order was 2.25 items and valued at just over $247.
Our new RewardSphere platform has some pretty cool analytics that allow us to see what people are redeeming points for and what they’re searching for. The 12 days of #Maritzwishlist twitter campaign featured some of the most popular items on the site. 
Hands down THE most redeemed item is an Apple 16 GB iPad mini. Rather than post that item every day, we decided to highlight popular gifts in categories other than electronics too —things like: fashion accessories, gadgets, toys, ladies handbags, housewares, fragrance, etc…
Here’s our complete list:
Day 1 Apple iPad Mini2 16 GB WiFi with retina display
Day 2 Kate Spade Key Fob
Day 3 Light Blue by Dolce & Gabbana
Day 4 Beats Solo2 HD Drenched Headphone
Day 5 Keurig K550 2.0 Brewer
Day 6 Fitbit Flex Wireless Activity and Sleep Wristband
Day 7 Clarisonic Skin Care System Mia 2
Day 8 Apple TV
Day 9 Leapfrog Chat & Count Cell Phone
Day 10 Michael Kors Ladies Gold Chronograph Watch
Day 11 Bose SoundLink Mini Bluetooth Speaker
Day 12 Dyson DC59 Motorhead Cordless Vacuum
I asked our business analyst Tim Kaufmann what people are searching for on the site too. He said our analytics tell us people are searching for: iPads, Coach, Keurig, fitbit, Pandora (as in bracelets), Tiffany, and video game consoles like Xbox One, Wii U and PlayStation4.
I also asked our buyers if they noticed any new trends or if there’s anything that surprised them. Associate buyer Cindy Henry says a unique item that is selling very well right now is the Mud Pie Paw Print Ornament. According to Cindy, “A lot of people are making paw print keepsake ornaments of their pets. It’s definitely something that’s trending and not just for those stereotypical crazy cat ladies.” Obviously, showing the love for a pet is becoming mainstream.
So, with a week left before Christmas, how’s your shopping list coming along? Even though most of my shopping is online, I’m thinking it would be nice to get to a mall sometime before Christmas. I may not buy anything, but it sure is nice to see the windows and maybe I’ll even say hi to Santa.
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