The Holiday season has just past, while for some the numbers are still being tallied on whether or not end of year festivities were successful, let’s take a look at how shoppers got into the holiday spirit.
The holiday 2014 shopping season has shown an increase in shoppers’ spending for holiday gifts. Shoppers were eager to get on with the gift buying and avoid uncomfortable overcrowded situations. Online sales up by 8.3 percent in comparison to online sales in 2013. - IBM, 2014. Holiday spending for 2014 will rise by 4.1%, predicts the National Retail Federation predicted.
Shoppers were engaging in two types of shopping behaviour: webrooming and showrooming.
A growing number of consumers (71%) plan to participate in 'webrooming' – browsing online and then going into a store to make their purchase. – Accenture, 2014.
Nearly three-quarters (68%) of consumers say they are likely to participate in 'showrooming' - going into a physical store to see a product and then searching online for a better price and making their purchase online, up from 63% in 2013. - Accenture, 2014.
Webrooming increased 10% in comparison to the 2013 holiday shopping season. This is good news for retailers wanting to pull their customers into their physical locations. The behaviour of showrooming still has an edge over webrooming by 70% of the people surveyed.
These behaviours may cause disruption for retailers, it is important for retailers to keep their eye on these behaviours to improve the purchase intent of your shoppers by closely examining your omnichannel. In your marketing strategy for 2015, you can get ahead of the holiday season by:
Increasing your customers’ reasons to shop with you has to do with the relationship you create with them!
While holiday shoppers were webrooming and showrooming, they were enjoying holiday inspiration. Retailers went all out to create the magic and mystery of the holidays while ringing in the New Year and new customer relationships.
From New York to China, retailers used beautiful attention grabbing and sensory arousing displaces that captivated the audiences. Here are some examples of using digital and retail displaces that ignited customers holiday appetites.
Inspiriting digital and technological displays caught the attention of shoppers in China and Dubai, making the 2014 holiday shopping season delightful.
To get everyone into the holiday spirit, Ted Baker invited window browsers to meet under the virtual mistletoe. Brilliant fun way to celebrate the holiday and inspire customers.
High end retailer, Barney’s took advantage of window displays in a completely innovative and exciting way. Barney’s took entertainment to whole new level of beauty.
If you are starting your 2015 marketing planning for retail, Reimagining the in-store Digital Retail Experience, Creating a strategy for integrated in-store retail, is the guide that will help you get organized and so that you can take on and improve your use of the omnichannel.
I look forward to hearing about your planning experiences. Happy 2015!
Learn how to review customer journeys and deliver the best customer experience using in-store digital technology.
Download our Re-imagining in-store retail guide.
References:
By Tery Spataro
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