Spice Up Your Holiday Campaigns With the Latest Ecommerce Trends

The holiday season is here, and that usually means the traditional increase in consumer activity, sales and revenue. But, this year is shaping up to be a little different. With ongoing economic factors like inflation and growing recession anxieties, many consumers are rightfully weighing their holiday shopping plans more strategically than ever.

And, businesses this year are racing to adapt to changing trends and meet their customers where they are. Here are a few trends that can help as you launch ad campaigns for the holiday season.

Recession Concerns

We’ll start with the elephant in the room. Much of the news in 2022 has revolved around economic issues, and the holiday season is no different. The cost of living has increased tremendously. Food, housing, and gas now cost significantly more than they did a year ago, and the job market hasn’t helped things.

Even those who made more money this year than they previously did may find themselves deciding between heating their houses for the winter or buying holiday gifts for their children. In virtually every instance, money is a serious consideration this holiday season.

The good news is that despite the gloomy outlook, holiday spending is projected to increase in comparison to 2021. However, people will have a more creative approach this year. Every dollar counts more than ever before. As a result, consumers are buying holiday gifts earlier than usual, and they’re also exploring financing options such as new credit cards and payment plans.

Marketing is all about identifying customer pain points and highlighting ways in which your company can resolve those issues. Therefore, it makes sense to acknowledge the current climate in your advertising and to make mention of options that will help consumers as they shop for the holidays.

You don’t want to have downer ads — nobody wants to be depressed about their situation as they go holiday shopping — but it never hurts to remind your audience that you’re committed to helping them enjoy the holidays while being conscious of their financial concerns.

One step you can take is to link directly to your best deals and hottest gift ideas from your home page, or from QR codes or other ads. People are looking for good deals that will let them have fun shopping without spending too much money or feeling stressed. Make it easy for them to do just that, and you’ll increase your chances of building loyalty with that customer that lasts beyond the holiday season.

Online Ordering with In-Store Pickup

Making holiday shopping as easy as possible for consumers will go a long way toward increasing revenues and customer satisfaction. Another way this can be achieved is by encouraging shoppers to buy online and pick up their purchases in stores.

Is this a new development? Of course not. But again, the ability to shop around and find bargains is crucial for customers, more so this year than in previous years. Whereas previous holiday seasons suffered from reluctance to venture into stores due to COVID-related concerns, this year is seeing less anxiety about in-store shopping.

However, buying in-store leads to impulse buying and the lack of ability to identify deals — the antithesis of what people need most in the current economic climate. Allowing customers to shop online, while still receiving their merchandise shortly afterward, is a great way to encourage bargain shopping while keeping shopping fun and quick.

The option for in-store pick-up leads to another potential benefit. When people go to pick up their orders, they might stick around for a little bit. According to PYMNTS, 17 percent of consumers make additional purchases when they go into a store to pick up an online order. 

These extra buys might not specifically bolster your ecommerce revenue, but they’ll help your company, and they’ll reinforce your brand’s image in the minds of consumers.

Selling on Social

Social commerce — the act of making a purchase directly from a social media app, in response to an ad or a post made by a retailer — is expected to exceed more than $4 trillion in worldwide revenue in 2022. This is more than just a future trend. This is what’s happening right now.

Social selling is the perfect solution for the current situation in which many people find themselves this holiday season. They’re stressed out due to economic issues, and the idea of going holiday shopping only adds even more anxiety.

But they do need to buy things, and the best way to appeal to those people is to sell them something when they’re relaxed and open to making a purchase. And a great time for that is when they’re scrolling through social media, taking a break from life, when their guard is down and the pressure is off.

Giving those people the ability to buy directly from a social media app such as TikTok is actually a service to those shoppers. By selling in this way, you make it incredibly easy for consumers to buy. Better yet, you remove the barrier of that person remembering to go to your website later to finalize the transaction. Instead, they can make that purchase right now, and they can go right back to scrolling, knowing they’ve crossed one person off of their shopping list.

The ramifications of social selling in this way can be felt well throughout 2023 and beyond. Once people are set up to buy on social media, they may be more inclined to make future purchases from their social media feeds. This opens the door to future business and increased customer loyalty.

This holiday season certainly presents a unique set of challenges nobody could have foreseen. But, retailers that plan ahead and anticipate the needs of their customers will be poised to come out ahead. If you’d like to learn more about how to best prepare for the 2022 holiday season, contact us at Commit Agency today.