Consumer Behavior

5 things for marketers to be thankful for this holiday

Anne-Marie Schaffer, EVP, general manager of retail and consumer goods, auto and mobility for Merkle, shares insight on new solutions and approaches retail marketers may want to consider as they head toward the holiday selling season.

Photo by istock.com

October 27, 2020 by Anne-Marie Schaffer — EVP, GM, Merkle Inc.

With all that is happening in the world, it can be hard to focus on the positive things. But, one thing both marketers and consumers have in their sights is the 2020 holiday season. Major retailers and brands are gearing up for the changes that will need to take place, such as Home Depot's extended Black Friday deals and UPS's hiring spree to accommodate online shopping.

Even with COVID-19 continuing to impact our industry, there are tons of new opportunities for marketers this holiday. Below is a list of five things we have to be grateful for, and to look forward to, as we persevere through the pandemic and welcome the end of the year.

New customers means new segmentation practices: Get the right offer to the right person

One of the underlying positives to shopping behaviors since the pandemic began is the significant shift to e-commerce and the trial of different brands and products by new customers. Many retail brands are seeing double-digit purchase increases from new users, and according to shopkick.com, e-commerce purchases from new or low-frequency customers is expected to increase by more than 160% during this time. The objective for brands should be to understand who these new customers are and to embrace strategies that drive further engagement over these next few months.

Winning with new customers prior to the holiday season will ensure further purchase consideration during the peak holiday time period. The keys will be for marketers to revisit their segmentation strategies, to model techniques now to better understand and identify who these new customers are, and to understand their shopping behaviors both on and off-site. With this knowledge, brands can then create personalized offers to effectively and consistently drive engagement and nurture new customers with a different tone and voice than they do for their loyal customers.

Harness a sense of community: Tap into local media

In today's new normal, consumer experiences aren't the same in every city, especially given the dynamics of how local governments and communities manage their approaches to reopening. In addition to responding to the influx and decline of COVID-19 cases, consumers in local markets will also respond differently to the common flu, the political landscape, and continued social impacts. For marketers to win, embracing a hyper-local marketing strategy and being prepared to react to and enact change in real time will be key to achieving their business goals during this holiday season.

Leveraging local market dashboards can put tremendous power and insights into the hands of many marketers. The data included in these dashboards can help retail marketers respond in a hyper-local manner to truly optimize their business results over the holidays, by:
● identifying where their local marketing dollars should be diverted.
● creating hyper-local promotions and offers.
● improving distribution logistics to ensure goods are transported to the right brick-and-mortar locations.

Pull your marketing budget forward to elongate the season

Every year it seems like the holiday selling season starts earlier and earlier, with the past two to three years kicking off just after Halloween. This year's holiday season is expected to begin even sooner, given the impending announcement of Amazon Prime Day in October. It is expected that online purchasing this holiday season will increase compared to prior years, and the early start will provide a lot of opportunity for marketers to succeed.

While there is some concern for holiday fatigue, an early start allows brands to optimize their inventory and pricing strategies, especially by pulling sales earlier to help mitigate the shipping crunch that occurs those last few weeks after Thanksgiving. Sales that take place in October and November are typically more profitable than sales in mid-December, due to increased competition and promotional activity to draw and convert consumers. And, with inventory challenges that many retailers are facing this holiday season, encouraging consumers to buy early will help them better manage their inventory logistics and maintain a more profitable outcome.

Reinvent the Cyber 5 with revamped marketing promotions

In years past, Black Friday and Cyber Monday have been the pinnacle of the holiday selling season. But with many brick-and-mortar locations closed and the need for social distancing, we won't be seeing the same type of door-buster deals in store. Instead, more and more offers and promotions will move online providing a wealth of data and insights for marketers to leverage. Email has become an increasingly powerful marketing tool for driving engagement these past several months, and it will be important for marketers to drive relevancy of their communications by ensuring robust segmentation and personalization is included in their plans.

Promotions during the Thanksgiving weekend, such as buy online, pickup in store and curbside pick-up, have provided, and will continue to provide, very strong promotional offerings for retailers when combined with an incentive or discount. And, with inventory challenges for many retailers as it gets later in the selling season, sharing the inventory availability in the promotional messaging may inspire consumers to pull the trigger earlier. Limited time offers, such as flash sales and mystery product reveals, can also be extremely engaging ways to get customers to act fast.

Get creative with your creative

There is a tremendous amount of competitive pressure among retailers during the holidays, but it's also the perfect time to drive customer engagement and acquisition, especially among loyal customers. Retailers should consider a few creative ways for consumers to spend time with their brands. Interactive promotional ideas such as "Chance to Win" or "Days of Giving Sweeps," when done well, can generate numerous registrants opting in for future communications, increasing your remarketing pool, thus providing more opportunity to interact and learn about that consumer.

Another creative way to engage multiple consumers is by hosting a "build your holiday wish list" online. Consumers will spend time on your site as they shop around to fill their wish list, increasing time spent with your brand. This also helps retailers uncover the latest shopper interests and affords the opportunity for additional follow-up and engagement through personalized email communications.

As we head toward the holiday selling season, there are plenty of new solutions and approaches for marketers to consider that drive positive results. What's important this year is to recognize that things are different and what worked in the past may not work in our "now normal." With change comes opportunity, whether that be engaging new customers, creating personalized messaging, or reinventing the Cyber 5. The key question is: what are you doing to prepare?

Anne-Marie Schaffer is EVP, general manager of retail and consumer goods, auto and mobility for Merkle.