For online retailers, second time’s the charm

Q4 is the equivalent of childbirth for online retailers. It’s a painful, stressful experience with a nine-month gestation that, in most cases, yields a brief period of euphoria followed by depression and anxiety. Much of this is due to a defective model. Some retailers make up to 30 percent of their annual sales during the frantic month between Black Friday and Christmas Day. Many of those sales come from first-time buyers who never return — in part because too many marketers fail to pursue them appropriately. It’s like immediately trying to have another baby at the expense of raising the one you just had. Granted, many marketers think they’re trying to nurture those first-time buyers. Unfortunately, their efforts consist largely of lumping first-time buyers in with everyone else in a one-size-fits-all email retargeting campaign.