Many retailers are putting plans in place to meet the demands of one of the largest revenue drivers of the year: holiday shopping (the period that begins in November in some parts of the world and intensifies as December progresses).
Taking the U.S., some predictions (such as from Insider Intelligence) are already estimating that total U.S. holiday retail sales in 2021 will rise 2.7% percent to $1.093 trillion, while the season’s ecommerce sales will rise 11.3 percent to $206.88 billion.
Some of this information is reflected in a new survey, which comes from the company Celtra. The survey outlines consumers’ shopping preferences and expectations for brands’ holiday marketing campaigns.
These findings illustrate the effectiveness of various marketing techniques for engaging with customers across digital channels as marketers prepare to launch national and global campaigns this holiday season.
In terms of how retailers can make use of such data and plan for the forthcoming rush, te survey unveils that many shoppers plan to buy both in-store and online. Here, over half (62 percent) of consumers say they plan to purchase online and in-store, with 60 percent are expecting to shop through retailers’ websites this holiday.
This shows the importance of building an online presence and developing an overall digital strategy, designed to embrace marketing and direct ways to reach clientele.
A trend from the survey is that a large proportion of consumers plan to start shopping earlier, during October. With this, 57 percent of shoppers are planning to start their holiday shopping during this month.
This means that affected brands need to start competing for consumers’ attention. Consequently, the survey also finds that around two-thirds (66 percent) of brand marketers plan to design more creative assets this holiday season than last year.
In terms of what brands can offer, personalization remains a key factor. The survey data shows that 48 percent of shoppers seek personalized products and offers. Furthermore, 77 percent are more inclined to shop with brands that personalize content across their online shopping journey. Brands need to note, as the survey finds, that consumers also crave fresh content; more than half (61 percent) of consumers find holiday creative to be repetitive.
To meet the variations, 51 percent of marketers are planning to adopt new technologies like automation to support content production. Other brands are more inclined to use influencers. Nearly half (47 percent) of marketers anticipate social media will be primary mechanism through which to drive revenue. This technique is followed by email as second means reach out consumers.
