2020 has been a whirlwind year, and now it’s time to make the most of the Christmas season. Owing to the numerous sanctions put on lockdown, consumer behavior has taken a drastic turn to online purchasing methods. Ever since the COVID-19 Pandemic hit the U.S., e-commerce sales surged dramatically. And with the virus still looming, online purchases are not coming down anytime soon. Here are a few eCommerce trends to help make the most of the Christmas season:
Need for creative copies
Original content is a necessary key to increasing conversions.
A way to show that your brand cares is by offering relevant information and needed tips and tricks across your various platforms, including your blog, newsletter, and social media channels.
For instance, if your brand specializes in pastries, you could craft literary content on recipes that would be great for the Christmas season. Not only would this show your customers you care, but by implementing SEO best practices with effective companies like Joel House Darwin SEO, such content could serve as a beacon by directing others to your brand.
There are no limits to creativity. With the right type of content, you could add some magic to your customer’s experience.
Personalization-driven traffic
As earlier mentioned, customers are looking for a unique experience every step of the way. This season, creativity and innovation would continue to play a massive role in driving sales.
According to Efelle Creative’s Director of Marketing, Tessa Wuertz: “Around the holidays, consumers are looking for a bit more “magic” when it comes to their experience, so offering an unusual and different experience will engage an audience. Whether it’s a pop-up shop for a digitally native brand or an AR experience through a phone and a physical product, I think we’ll see some cross-over in some holiday campaigns.”
Summarily, creating a unique and personalized experience around your brand would encourage your customers to come back for more.
Growth in video advertising
As a result of the lockdown, many people have no other place to go to than stay home surfing the net. Brands and companies will leverage this advantage by creating more video forms of advertising to prominent social media spaces like Youtube, IGTV and even the now booming TikTok.
According to the prominent business owner, Shane Barker: “I think videos will be a big part of this year’s holiday campaigns, and brands will also use platforms like IGTV and Instagram Live to share promotional videos. Videos are on their way to becoming the most popular content type, and they are the most engaging one as well. Marketers realize this and, therefore, you will see a lot of brands using videos for their holiday campaigns.”
Needless to say, there’s going to be a significant rise in video advertising during the holiday season.
More lifestyle-driven purchases
Since the beginning of lockdown, there have been drastic consumer behavior shifts.
According to a study on consumer behavior during the lockdown, customers went through four phases in making buying decisions:
- The stock-up phase: Customers were all the rave during this period and made panic purchases to stock-up necessary items during the lockdown.
- The settle in phase: There was a shift to digital means of escaping reality and communicating with loved ones. Customers started accepting the new normal.
- The let’s-do-something phase: Here, customers were tired of being cooped up at home and turned to more outdoor activities to let off steam.
- The stimulus phase: This is quite similar to the stage, as now customers are more willing to get back to splurging.
Constant shifts in customer behavior would inevitably play a huge part in influencing buyer decisions. As a result, you should continuously stay up-to-date on trends specific to your industry and garner feedback from your customers to tailor products specific to their needs.
Collaborations foster growth
Brands with compatible production lines would be open to joining forces. Not only would this drive sales to each brand, but partnerships would do a better job at adding personality.
“I think we will see brands start to find innovative ways to partner with other brands. Rising acquisition costs are going to force brands to come up with creative ways of reaching new customers through organic channels.” — Ryan Shaw, Director of Growth Marketing, Shogun.
Increased social media influence
Apart from big-brand collaborations, another Ecommerce trend for Christmas 2024 is that there would be an increase in partnerships with micro-influencers.
Since numerous people are spending most of their time on social media channels, particularly Instagram, YouTube, and Tiktok, such platforms would significantly influence customer purchases. By having micro-influencers on such channels feature your brand products, you would be marketing to a small but tight-knit audience.
Rave of pre-Christmas shopping
It’s no secret that many shoppers prefer shopping for Christmas several days, even weeks, ahead.
Prominent sales days like Black Friday and Cyber Monday have been known to experience a surge in sales. This is primarily to avoid the lengthy shipping and delivery process that follows after making purchases online.
With lockdown measures still in place, several parts of the world will continue to experience a steady rise in online shopping. To make the online experience more seamless, brands and businesses should put the necessary purchase methods in place and offer bonuses and incentives to drive sales several days before Christmas eve.
Higher demand for customer service
As mentioned above, most online purchases would be made several days before Christmas. Owing to this fact, buyers’ needs for quality customer service would be higher in demand.
Customers may have questions about delivery dates, shipping schedules, and other online shopping areas, and they expect their needs met lickity split.
As a result, brands would need to spread their reach by branching out to several other digital contact methods: email, call, text, and social media messages or chatbots.
To avoid discrepancies in time zones when shipping internationally, automated messaging to keep in constant contact with buyers would be a much-needed tool to solve the problem.
“Chatbots and automated messaging will be the bread and butter of holiday campaigns this year. Chatbots work around the clock and can help you assist customers in finding the products they’re looking for.”—David Feng, Reamaze cofounder.
Niching down drives more
If 2024 has taught the business world anything, it’s that there’s a pressing need for brands to get the most with as little as possible.
Founder of Greenwood Consulting, Jason Greenwood voiced his claim: “I hope that brands will highly segment and target their campaigns this year. The temptation is to spray and pray, but due to slim margins driven by holiday discounting, campaign ROIs are compressed, meaning you need to make every marketing dollar count!”
Conclusively, it is vital to focus on tailored approaches and target the specific ‘some’ rather than the general ‘all.’
Conclusion
According to joelhouse.com.au, an excellent organizational process and the right marketing strategies, your eCommerce business stands a lot to gain this Christmas season.
Remember to put the right systems in place to convert visitors to customers. And be sure to take measures in ensuring a memorable customer experience.
By planning early, you would be ensuring your brand and your customers have a joyous Christmas season.
