It is that time of year — marketing gurus and business owners wait anxiously as we get closer to the shopping extravaganza that is the holiday season. The holiday shopping season is the highest revenue generating event for most retail businesses. However, they have to compete with other businesses also trying to take advantage of the shopping spree. According to Nielsen, the U.S. holiday shopping spending in 2014 will exceed last year’s sales by more than 2 percent. This post will discuss a couple of ideas that can help build a holiday marketing campaign.
Gift Cards
Use gift cards to attract and engage customers. According to the Nielsen report, 12 percent of Americans plan to spend more on gift cards during the 2014 holiday season than they did in 2013. The report also told us that toys and technology products purchase increased by 10% during last year’s holiday season because they used a lot of gift cards to attract more shoppers.
Focus on women
According to the same research, nearly one in every five U.S. men don’t plan to do any shopping during the holidays. As for women, the number is one in ten. You guessed it; women will be doing much of the shopping this holiday season.
A mix of low and mid-priced products
It would be wise to offer a mix of low and mid-priced products, as one third of American families are looking to spend between $250 and $500 during the 2014 holiday season. It is interesting to note that with an improving economy, many shoppers plan to spend more. The study also describes that 12 percent of households earning under $50,000 plan to spend more during the 2014 holiday season than they did in 2013.
Consistent shopping experience across channels, devices and platforms
Creating a consistent shopping experience across all channels, devices and platforms can change your sales dramatically. People love shop online via their mobile devices, desktop and tablets. It is your responsibility to offer them a seamless and consistent shopping experience across all channels (like website and apps), devices and platforms. According to a recent study from Loyalty360, 90 percent of U.S. consumers expect the customer experience to be consistent across channels and devices used to interact with brands during the 2014 holiday shopping season. This may seem obvious but this is significantly up from the 73 percent that expressed that sentiment in 2013.
If you are ready, it’s not too early
A simple and effective way to increase your chances of a successful holiday shopping campaign is to launch it well before Black Friday and Cyber Monday. According to the study, 22 percent of Americans are already doing their holiday shopping. So, if you feel ready, don’t wait for the Black Friday or Cyber Monday, it’s not like everyone in America has vowed to buy Christmas stuff on a particular date. If people see a good deal before those dates, they will surely take it.
Offer in-store pickup
What do you hate most about the holiday shopping? For me, it is the long queues and stores filled with a lot of impatient people. In-store pickup is a great way to counter this problem. Allow your customers to browse, shop and pay online, and have their items waiting in the store for them. It is not a bad ploy, because the number of people shopping online and getting the item in-store to avoid shopping time and costs is increasing. According to eMarketer, 1 in 5 U.S. internet users purchased a product online and picked it up in a store during the 2013 holiday season.
Wrap Up
To win over your competition you have to bring the best deals and strategies to the table. The strategies we have discussed above are based on researches we have mentioned. Yet, they are not fixed strategies. Make sure you adopt a suitable holiday marketing campaign according to your business’s core competencies. We have seen drastic changes over the year. A business equipped with up-to-date technology and a good marketing plan will surely have a fantastic holiday shopping season.
