This year, 38.5% of multichannel retailers said they would start their holiday marketing earlier this year than last, and more than half (62.5%) will begin promotions by Nov. 4, according to a new study.

The trend is in proportion to consumer preferences, as one in five (19.8%) online shoppers said they plan to shop for holiday gifts earlier this year, and 34.9% will start their shopping by Halloween, according to results of the 2006 eHoliday Mood Survey conducted by BizRate Research for Shopzilla and Shop.org.

More online retailers (83%) will offer shipping promotions this year, including free shipping with or without conditions and discounted shipping. The trend is in line with customer expectations, as 74.9% of shoppers said free shipping offers are one of the most important factors when they decide where to buy online. Many retailers also will add “early shopper” discounts (38.7%) and “first-time buyer” discounts (30.6%).

Multichannel retailers also will employ online and offline marketing strategies for the holidays. Most online retailers (97.4%) will be investing in search-engine marketing and comparison shopping engines (73.1%). Nearly half (41.6%) also are using unconventional tools such as blogs or RSS feeds, and 79.5% will use viral marketing. Offline, retailers will invest in traditional media advertising in newspapers (44%), magazines (52%), radio (31.6%) and television (26.3%), the study said.

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