Christmas and New Year, one of the biggest global festivals are just a month away. This is also known as the holiday season and ‘shopping’ during this period of the year is supposed to be a phenomenon, driven by the shopping festivals such as Black Friday, Cyber Monday all the way leading to Christmas. The pre-Christmas weeks can be the busiest when it comes to shopping and this year also it would be no different. Therefore among the entire festive shopping frenzy, retail businesses and shoppers need to get their efforts channeled in the right direction so that they do not miss out on the smallest of chances to get the maximum margins (for retailers), and the right products for (shoppers).
The modern day shoppers are the ones who are extremely technology savvy and are highly connected. They have the power of choice at their disposal. They have the option of using multiple shopping channels. They are also exposed to a wide range of alternatives for products thanks to the intense competition between retail brands looking to grab the biggest bite of the market. At this point, festive shoppers have their task cut-out for them. Basically the will do their best to get what they want, and to do so they would not think twice to switch between channels or for that matter even shift their loyalties between brands. It is therefore important for retail businesses to seize these opportunities and leave their mark on the customers and stay ahead of the curve.
Below are 3 ways retail businesses can capitalize on the festive shopping season to get more sales?
Omni-channel experience is key – Retail businesses need to transform into an omni-channel businesses as it is the new norm and there are no two ways about it. For example, if a shoppers is looking for a particular product online, purchases the product in a brick and mortar store and then expects it to be delivered home, the customer will expect a seamless experience through this journey and the retailer needs to ensure the whole process happens seamlessly to match the customer’s expectation. Similarly shoppers might choose to use different channels throughout their shopping journey for research, buying and even returning and retail brands need to be ready with the right processes and operations in place to handle them. Investing in the right omni-channel retail solutions will prove to be favorable for retailers to be able to spread the festive cheer by delivering superior customer experience and thus garner more sales.
Personalizing promotions and offerings – Promotions and offers have been the go to technique when it came to attracting more customers and getting more sales, especially during the festive shopping season. And this has been happening since years. But now, it is no more just that. Shoppers are expecting an experience that caters to them specifically or appeals to their preferences and interests. If a shopper would be interested in buying a pair of jeans, she would not appreciate if she receives offers on mobile phones. Retail brands need to be aware of their shoppers tastes and preferences and personalize their promotions and offerings. These tailor made promotions would enable the retail brands to strike the right chord with their customers and further enhance the brand-customer relationship.
Employing data to understand the trends – Each festive shopping season has its own set of learnings and retailers must not hesitate but on the contrary be equipped to be able to extract the required sales data from past festive shopping seasons. Once this data is handy, retailers must don their analyzing hats to deduce the information that would be required to forecast and plan for the next season. While previous season’s data is important, it would also be necessary for retailers to understand current and future market trends so to say. Analysing the shoppers preferences, the buying history, the times that shopping peaked, the products that were purchases the most, the channels used by shoppers, the conversion path, the promotion that worked the most, so on and so forth are metrics that could help retailers plan and be ready for their next season and take strategic decisions.
In order to make this upcoming Christmas shopping season truly cheerful retail businesses need to equip themselves with the right tools and technologies. Employing an omni-channel retail solution having a wide range of modules such as an omni-channel pos software integrated with a CRM software, omni-channel promotions software, omni-channel analytics software and more would help them to adopt to omni-channel and seamlessly manage the customer experience and therefore increase their chances of getting more sales.
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