With Fall and back-to-school shopping behind us, retailers are steadily planning for the most important shopping season of the year: the winter holidays. Though every holiday shopping season is crucial, this one will undoubtedly be one of a kind – shaped by the changes to consumer behavior driven by COVID-19. As the pandemic has accelerated consumers’ adoption of eCommerce and omnichannel shopping behavior, merchants everywhere should be adapting.
We’ve chatted with experts and researched best practices to gather the top tips for omnichannel marketing for the 2020 holiday season:
1. Plan ahead for the move to online
According to retail and customer experience expert Martin Newman, in recent years, in-store sales have accounted for as much as 80% of all holiday sales in a given season. One change for the 2020 experience that there is broad consensus on across the retail community: holiday shopping will move online. As per a recent survey of 10,000 shoppers across the US, despite the impact of COVID-19, shoppers do not plan to significantly change their holiday spend compared to 2019. However, 66% of shoppers said they plan to increase their online purchases during the 2020 holiday season.
2. Personalize your customers experience through data-insights
Though COVID-19 has been the catalyst behind shoppers becoming more comfortable buying online, this trend is actually not new — over the past few holiday seasons, more and more consumers have opted to do their gifting online. For retail marketers, this means crafting a data-driven marketing strategy aimed at the new hybrid shopping experience.
As shoppers continue to shift their preference to online shopping from multiple devices, using data to more aptly know your consumer and their preferred devices and channels means you can reach customers more effectively, promoting holiday events, items and experiences that are most relevant to them on the channels they frequent most. Leverage data to learn where your traffic is coming from and what competitors your customers are visiting. Personalize your promotions by tailoring to shoppers’ habits and preferences, crafting personalized messages that speak to them.
3. Make the online experience fun and festive
Part of the “magic” of in-store holiday shopping are the intricate in-store displays and experiential activations, and the social aspect of the hustle and bustle of the shopping season. This year will undoubtedly be different, especially for the younger generation of shoppers, who are the least likely to visit stores and use changing rooms in the COVID-19 environment. For retail marketers, that means a critical need to infuse your brand or store’s website with holiday magic.
Just because your website doesn’t have a giant snow globe or warm cider doesn’t mean it can’t be (almost) as festive as shopping in-store. Bring some of the magic of gifting to your site by thinking through the shopping experience. You likely already have product categories on your site, but do you have gift categories? Are there options for adventurous types as well as those that like snuggling up on a couch all day? Think through personality types and traits, or develop themes that align with your brand to make the browsing experience a bit more fun and inspiring. Incorporate those elements into your overall digital marketing approach, including sending personalized emails or targeted social ads to your customers. Merchants can go above and beyond by offering personal shopping support, either via video chat with an in-store employee, or via chat or phone call.
4. Shoppers will seek a fairer way to pay
According to research, another trend that retail marketers should look out for when planning for the 2020 holiday shopping season is the increased shopper preferences towards “buy now, pay later” services. This comes as no surprise as millions of Americans are looking for ways to make their money go further. Two-thirds of Gen Z consumers and over half of millennials said that they used BNPL options for the first time due to COVID-19. As shoppers continue trying to save money and budget, this trend suggests that many are looking to more responsible payment options to help manage cash flow.
With Afterpay, consumers can check everything off their shopping list without worrying about covering the full costs up front–or paying interest on their purchases. Having a flexible way to shop from start to checkout will draw shoppers to merchants that offer Afterpay, both in-store and online. It’s for that reason, Newman notes, that many Afterpay users may start their holiday gift hunt directly from our Shop Directory to ensure they’re buying from retailers that offer a fairer way to pay.
This article was originally published at Sendpulse.com, by author Will Cannon. Original article >>
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