During the holidays, retailers are presented with their best opportunities to accelerate sales momentum and reach their revenue goals before the end of the year. Over the last five years, $71.6 trillion dollars have been spent on advertising for the top 20 product categories in the last quarter of the year—almost 30% of total advertising spend. In such a crowded advertising space, it is imperative for retailers, and mass merchandisers in particular, to reach consumers and get the best bang for their advertising buck during the holiday season.
When it comes to holiday ads, mass merchandisers comprise over half of the total retail category’s Gross Ratings Points (GRPs), measuring ad impressions, during the holiday months. And not surprisingly, there is a significant increase in mass merchandiser ad spend (and overall retail ad spend) during the holidays compared to the rest of the year. However, that is not the case across all advertiser categories.
When comparing GRPs during the months of November and December to the GRPs over the rest of the year, the retail and technology categories see a significant increase in media weight while other categories see relatively equal spend or in some cases, less media weight than in other parts of the year.
