As August is coming to a close, Marigold Engage+ is focused on what is just around the corner: the holiday season. Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday are some of the biggest events for our Product and Services teams. During the holiday season, our team members are on call to ensure the stability of our products and to see that our customers’ holiday messaging is impactful and clickable, to help our clients generate that oh-so-important holiday revenue.
The holiday season requires a great deal of preparation that extends beyond our services and product capabilities. Because of this, we recently sent out a survey to understand consumer holiday plans so that we have the data to best serve our customers.
This holiday season will, undoubtedly, be impacted by COVID-19, and the team rooted this survey in understanding just how holiday shopping will operate during this unprecedented time. Over 260 Marigold Engage+ employees and clients from Asia, Europe, and Central and North America were asked to share their thoughts and shopping plans over the next few months to gain valuable insights into how to tailor our customers’ marketing plans to their consumers’ needs.
2020 holiday shopping is a numbers game
This year, the holiday season is about budget and timing. A holiday shopping budget is important to shoppers; the survey showed that 56% of people plan on spending less this year. Another big concern is timing. October is the expected beginning of the holiday shopping season as 78% of people surveyed said they would be shopping earlier to ensure timely delivery of their gifts.
Holiday season shopping habits
The pandemic has already shifted the way we shop, putting e-commerce front and center in the global economy, and the holiday season will be no exception. Online shopping will dominate the holiday season as 66% of people surveyed plan to shop online. However, the results from Europe showed that 53% of people in the region plan to shop in-store for gifts. While 66% of people plan to shop for holiday dinners in-store, 33% will be buying groceries online, either for delivery, or curbside pick-up. With so much focus on online shopping and shipping, we know that we have to tailor strategies to these factors.
What do people want?
Holiday shopping is not exclusively about timing and finances, it’s also knowing what holiday consumers want to buy.
A majority of shoppers surveyed are buying clothes and shoes as gifts this year, and North America will be giving the gift of electronics. Gift cards will also be a big part of the holiday gifts this year. We know that we can work with retailers in specific regions to ensure they are delivering the right offers on the right products in the right regions.
This survey helps us identify key factors to help our customers succeed in the most active shopping season of the year. Attention to consumer budgets, earlier in-season sales and messaging, optimizing digital channels for holiday deliveries, and a focus on product choices can enhance marketing programs to ensure success. We can work with our customers to create holiday strategies specific to their needs and leverage the incredible capabilities of the Customer Engagement Suite to deliver an incredible holiday season.
Want to read the full report?
