As we get closer to Christmas, the competition for shoppers’ pounds hots up. And this year, it’s more important than ever for retailers to engage consumers, as they contend with rising living costs and become increasingly selective with they’re spending.
Ticking-off the remaining shopping days until Christmas can prove an effective way for retailers to connect with consumers to drive sales. With this in mind, Ronni Lang, Head of Marketing at fulfilmentcrowd, shares five top tips about how to run a Christmas countdown. The international fulfilment provider works with over 500 SME-sized eCommerce retailers, helping them manage the movement of stock – a critical factor underpinning any successful retail countdown.
Make the countdown multi-channel
For a countdown to truly work, consumers need feel part of it and a sense of urgency needs to be created. They must see that the shopping days are running out, which means the countdown needs to be live across different channels, from the landing page of online stores through to social media and email.
The multi-channel approach should also include the tangible aspect of unboxing – it’s a prime opportunity to strengthen repeat purchasing. As soon as the consumer opens their eCommerce order, shoppers should be reminded about how many shopping days they have left, along with an incentive to buy again, whether that’s a discount or gift suggestions for friends and family. Reengaging the consumer post-purchase via digital methods, such as email, are also proven to be effective in driving repeat purchasing, often when inclusive of a bespoke offer or a highly tailored offering that leverages data from previous browsing or basket activity.
Many forward-thinking retailers have embraced unboxing to build brand loyalty. It’s cost effective to integrate this as part of the countdown with inserts that can be quickly slipped into a parcel at the point of packaging.
Create countdown milestones
A countdown is much more than simply telling consumers that the shopping days are slipping away. It’s about building anticipation by creating moments that provide reasons for a consumer to engage with a retailer and drives their propensity to shop. When planning the countdown, retailers should pinpoint key milestones for when consumers will be rewarded for interacting with the countdown.
Milestones could include access to a time-limited promotion, the release of a must-have product, the ability to pre-order popular items or the publication of a gift guide. Planning in these key moments can also assist retailers with forecasting orders.
Have a countdown cut-off
In addition to Christmas Day, a final milestone should be plotted in the countdown, which is the last shopping day before Christmas.
The whole countdown must build towards the final hour when a consumer can order a product online and it can be delivered to them in time for Christmas. Retailers must prioritise the management of their supply chains and ensure a solid carrier infrastructure is in place to fine-tune and push this final hour as close as possible to Christmas Day. This year could see shoppers holding out more than ever for last-minute bargains to get the best deals.
Create countdown contingencies
There might be milestones in the Christmas countdown that drive big peaks in demand, which puts a strain on product availability. First and foremost, retailers should make sure they’ve got fingertip access to accurate data about what’s happening in their supply chains. If they have full visibility of stock movement, they will be able to plan more effectively for sales spikes.
fulfilmentcrowd’s customer app has been specifically developed and recently optimised to provide SME eCommerce retailers with instant access to stock inventory management and supply chain data. A combination of push notifications and a streamlined user journey mean retailers can quickly and easily access the information they want, when they want.
The added benefit of real-time, accurate data is that retailers can create contingencies. Economic uncertainty is impacting consumer confidence, making it more difficult to predict shopper demand. Data-led decisions can be made to develop various supply and demand models to optimise retail selling prices, discount products at the right time to shift stock and promote alternative products to fill any gaps in availability.
Countdown to a crescendo
As the countdown reaches the cut-off for final orders, retailers must build to a crescendo. A series of daily events should be scheduled that culminates in a bigger, one-off promotion on the final day.
The crescendo may include daily deals, special edition products and discounts on next-day deliveries to capture the flurry of last-minute shoppers. Building to this crescendo helps ensure the countdown finishes with enough of a splash to create one big last sales push, as well as teeing-up shopper interest in the next retail event.
The secret for SMEs is to make sure they’re ready for the countdown crescendo. As the orders mount up, they must be processed quickly and timely to avoid any backlog risking customer frustrations with delayed deliveries. Working with the right fulfilment partners and being able to instantly check and track order status is critical to this.
