The 113 million visits to retailer websites on Boxing Day 2012 proved UK internet users have successfully set an online Boxing Day record. The figure was up 17% from last year and is predicted to further increase in 2013. Retail giants like John Lewis, Selfridges and Cloggs all reported a significant surge in sales and a record level of visitors taking advantage of their aggressive discounting over Christmas.

Whilst these retail giants report positive Christmas and New Year sales, it appears other significant sectors such as Telecoms, Utilities and Travel are being neglected. Consumers are potentially missing out on long term savings on insurance, holidays or even broadband for the rest of the year!

These sectors, aware of the huge probability of declining sales as customers are solely focused on the retail sector, offer significant discounts around over Christmas to attract customers. However, the majority of affiliates focus purely on advertising retail advertisers, thus these incredible discounts tend to go unnoticed by the consumers. With a little more attention to these sectors, savvy customers can obtain cheaper insurance or even breakdown cover for the year. They coul scoop that sky box or broadband at 50% off its original price or the early planners can book their summer holidays at a generous discount.

Great seasonal advertiser offers

A few examples of incredible Christmas and New Year offers are:

  • Sky offered “12 months’ half price broadband” with latest wireless router, free off-peak calls and also a £25 M&S; voucher. That is 50% less than what an average consumer would pay for if they purchased after the New Year. Alas, this was not all: they were also generous to offer a free £65 Tesco voucher with any sky package purchased at Sky online.

Existing customers were not excluded from the price slashes either; Sky partnered with MoneySavingExpert and offered exclusive codes which entitled existing customers to 50% off upgrades to sky+ HD. There was no catch! This was given to customers on a first come first served basis.

These discounts were attractive enough to give a 20% uplift in the days leading up to Boxing Day.

  • Broadband provider, Plusnet, launched a new website with a shorter order journey & implemented mobile tracking all in anticipation for Christmas and New Year sales. It also rivalled Sky in offering “12 months half price for broadband and home phone package” and also 50% off a 12-month broadband contract. The lucky customer could be paying only £4.99 monthly on their 2013 broadband, instead of the regular £9.99.

  • Travel giants like British Airways offered 25% extra miles in the run-up to Christmas for any flights booked in December and are also currently offering up to 20% off long haul flights. lastminute.com, Thomas Cook and Hotels.com also joined in the Christmas generosity and offered up to 50% off hotels worldwide.

  • The insurance sector have not been left behind with Aviva offering 20% off Car Insurance and RAC offering ‘Free At Home Breakdown Cover’ with any Roadside & Recovery insurance policy till the end of January. Affiliates were not excluded from RAC’s Christmas strategy: 3 affiliates were rewarded with £200 worth of M&S; vouchers each for providing sitewide exposure of RAC’s winter offers.

Just like RAC, affiliates need that extra incentive to push these offers over the Christmas and New Year season so advertisers need to be creative with their promotions in Christmas 2013 in order to benefit from the consumer purchase frenzy! Consumers have a lot to benefit too; don’t miss out on huge savings on your electricity, TV or insurance bills over the year. Retail isn’t the only winner!