Our Take: Thanksgiving Week in the News

Our Take: Thanksgiving Week in the News

November 21, 2018

Black Friday by the Numbers

With our own Shady Ray’s 2018 Gift Guide up and running, we enjoyed this overview of some key stats for the imminent burst of post-Thanksgiving shopping. We’re especially glad to see that the mobile audience continues to grow by leaps and bounds, leading to expectations that it will fuel more than 60 percent of all Black Friday sales this year.

Ethical Hacking and Cyber Insecurity

Holiday shopping season isn’t all fun and games—it’s also prime time for data breaches and identity theft attempts. Cybersecurity is a core component of development these days, so our programming team has spent some time brushing up on the fundamentals of “Ethical Hacking,” a technique for using the tools and tricks of bad actors to test the strength of our security systems.

With strong projections for holiday sales, we’re proud to know shoppers will be surfing safely on our sites this year!

Beverages Partner Up for the Holidays

And finally, the Beverage world has fully embraced the spirit of the season with a bevy of partnerships just in time for the holidays.

The office is stuffed with fans of Top Chef, so we were thrilled to see the show has partnered with Makers Mark for an Instagram extravaganza this Thanksgiving. Just in time for many home cooks to confront their biggest meal of the year, we think this is a fantastic way to capitalize on the energy of the holiday.

Malibu Rum and Kahlua are keeping it in the (corporate) family with a technology team-up at their global HQ, where the Living Lab is serving up demonstrations of some of our favorite next-gen engagement techniques, including POS augmented reality and responsive signage.

Meanwhile, Amazon has entered the beverage game in style, courtesy of a partnership with Bowmore for a limited release of single-malt scotch. As one of the world’s single largest liquor sellers, it makes sense for the ecommerce behemoth to dabble in the producer’s market, and this looks like a solid first outing.

From the XenoPsi family to yours, Happy Thanksgiving and merry holiday shopping!

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