The U.S. Book Show Returns

FY23 third quarter service performance scores covering April 1 through April 21, included: *First-Class Mail: 91.6% of First-Class Mail delivered on time against the USPS service standard, consistent with performance from the fiscal second quarter. *Marketing Mail: 95.8% of Marketing Mail delivered on time against the USPS service standard, an increase of 1.2 percentage points from the fiscal second quarter. *Periodicals: 87.9% of Periodicals delivered on time against the USPS service standard, an increase of 1.4 percentage points from the fiscal second quarter.

Adobe released its online shopping predictions for the upcoming holiday season. Based on Adobe Analytics, Adobe expects that online sales will be $107.4 billion, an increase of 13.8 percent, while in-store retail is expected to grow ten percent.* Cyber Monday is expected to become the largest online shopping day in history, generating $6.6 billion in sales, 16.5 percent growth compared to last year. Sales on Thanksgiving Day are expected to increase 15 percent YoY to $2.8 billion. One out of every six dollars this holiday season will be spent between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday, leading to $19.7 billion in sales. The most anticipated gifts include Hasbro NERF guns, Nintendo Switch, Apple Air Pods and Sony PlayStation® VR. While large retailers (more than $100 million in annual revenue) will see higher order values and desktop conversion rates than smaller retailers (less than $10 million in annual revenue), the latter are expected to have the mobile advantage with a higher average conversion rate of 1.9 percent by attracting more shoppers with an intent to buy. Adobe Analytics data also forecasts that shoppers will gravitate towards purchasing more lower-priced items online as opposed to big ticket items. While toys and apparel saw a 39 percent and 20 percent unit growth respectively last holiday season, jewelry sales came in low, with a three percent decline in unit growth. These trends are expected to continue this season. Click Read More below for additional information.

As lockdowns drag on and consumers spend more time at home, publishers are continuing to lean in to direct mail to engage their audience … and they are finding creative new ways to make it happen. “Publishers know Americans are going to be hunkered down at home for another few months of coronavirus-created isolation,” writes Max Willens in Digiday, “so some of them are hoping to drive more revenue by going right through readers’ front doors.” Those doors are especially attractive to direct-to-consumer (DTC) brands, and many are helping their DTC advertisers create direct mail campaigns. “Over the past few months, The Los Angeles Times has been pitching direct mail and custom publishing campaigns to media agencies focused on DTC brands,” Willens writes.