If you’re anywhere in North America, you’re definitely surrounded by the holiday spirit. From restaurants to retailers, everyone seems to be celebrating and lighting up their spaces.

Another big marker of the holiday season is of course shopping and sales. While consumers are attempting to make the most of these shopping events, how are luxury retailers responding? Well, we weren’t sure, so we just decided to ask some of them.

For instance, loyal shoppers at Bucherer, the Switzerland-based multibrand high-end watch and jewelry company, know there is a “Bucherer Holiday Express” global campaign highlighting some of the retailer’s top brands, including Tudor, Cartier, and Rolex. Alongside the mega campaign, Bucherer is also hosting celebratory events featuring customized cocktails, desserts, and gifting for its long-term clients, Carina Ertl, CMO and chief digital officer at Tourneau Bucherer USA, told Retail Brew.

“We further focus on our certified pre-owned (CPO) concierge program to remind our clients that our team of experts can help them find the perfect holiday timepiece for gifting,” she told Retail Brew via email.

And Bucherer is not alone in its grand plans.

Keep reading here.—JS

…the EOY retail rush. The holidays are a crucial time to attract new customers and turn them into lifelong shoppers.

How to do that? Let Bluecore’s insights report point you in the right direction. They analyzed billions of data points from Black Friday to help you understand:

• how well retailers moved their shoppers to first-time buyers
• how well retailers moved previous customers to multi-time buyers
• retention-specific metrics around repeat shopping
• performance of various site and email campaigns

Bluecore uses data across eight verticals, including apparel, consumer electronics, luxury and jewelry, and toys and gifts. And they even include tips on how to use the metrics to drive revenue and retention.

Check out Bluecore’s insights report and learn how to act on them. Next year’s revenue will thank you.

This week, Uber announced a series of new features to deliver convenience and a little holiday spirit to its consumers.

The rideshare and delivery service added Store Pickup via Uber Connect, which delivers prepaid items from local stores to users’ homes, or drops off gifts to nearby locations. Uber is growing its reach by offering the service to retailers beyond its official partners.

• Consumers must upload a receipt or proof of purchase to the Uber app, and deliveries must cost under $200 and weigh a maximum of 30 pounds. The service is now offered across 1,700 US locations, including Boston, Los Angeles, and Austin.
• Store Pickup allows the courier to “actually be sort of a Secret Santa,” Wendy Lee, Uber’s director of delivery product management, told Pymnts.

The company is also working to ease the return process this holiday, providing free returns through the first week of January.

Keep reading here.—EC

“Even without the polar bears, Coca-Cola apparently has no problem getting consumers in the holiday spirit. The soft-drink giant came out on top of data consultancy Kantar’s annual ranking of the best Christmas ads in the UK this year,” writes Marketing Brew’s Jasmine Sheena:

Coca-Cola’s “Holidays are Coming” ad, a 30-second spot featuring onlookers cheering a caravan of Christmas-themed Coca-Cola trucks as they pull into town, ranked in the top 2% for enjoyment and top 4% for ad distinctiveness.

Read the whole story here on Marketing Brew.