The Christmas spirit is something really contagious. Besides being a season full of emotions, it is one of the most important dates for retail, capable of generating a high volume of sales and customer retention. Whether for physical or online commerce, retailers who plan, right now, to create memorable experiences that bring this Christmas climate, will certainly be able to strengthen the relationship with their consumers, obtaining benefits that go far beyond a greater profit.
In a market perspective, we have to highlight the natural movement of the population on this date in search of the so dear Christmas gifts.In 2022, as an example, face-to-face sales increased 10%, compared to 2021, in addition to the revenue in e-commerce have grown 18.4% in this same comparison, according to a survey by Cielo.
As much as every business obviously wants to make bigger and bigger profits, this should not be a constant focus, especially at Christmas. Its emotional climate is a great hook to be explored, positively, by retail, aiming to immerse the consumer in remarkable experiences that make them feel important, happy and, with that, remember their brand in the future, when looking for products or services they need.
This personalized, integrated and convenient experience is essential to meet the demands of the so-called modern consumer: highly demanding about the businesses with which you will relate. Those who know how to organize communication campaigns that enjoy the characteristics of this date, valuing differentials that make them feel special, will raise their image and reputation against competitors.
But what could make sense, in practice, to implement actions that are not “more of the same”, managing to differentiate your company at Christmas? In the in-person establishments, as an example, use and abuse the Christmas decorations, mixing the physical items to the olfactory ones, with characteristic aromas of the time. Have spaces “instagramable”, where visitors can take photos and publish on social networks using a specific hashtag created by the retailer.
Omnichannel is a valuable strategy to enrich this complementarity, expansion and reinforcement of the brand in its segment, reaching a greater number of people in all business touchpoints.This, provided that retailers know how to integrate them with intelligence and strategy, avoiding an excess of actions and messages not adherent to their target audience and that generate a cascade effect of dissatisfaction.
It is not because this is perhaps the most important date in retail, that they should make a flood of communication to your consumer. Use corporate data to analyze the profile and history of your buyers, identifying which channels they prefer to relate to and how to unite them to ensure this fluidity in communication and experience.
A great tool in this sense and very adherent to retail is RCS (Rich Communication Service). This messaging system from Google has a range of features aimed at precisely making the communication of companies with their users as enriched, personalized and immersive as possible. It enables the sending of interactive campaigns through a set of features that includes sending text, images, gifs, videos, and more.
At Christmas, it can be further explored for sending personalized Christmas cards, exclusive promotions for the season, satisfaction surveys, and many other actions dedicated to each one. This is an extremely versatile channel that can be greatly explored to complement and strengthen the connection between the parties, always focusing on emotional bias.
In the end, the increase in profits at this time needs to be more a consequence than the great focus of retailers. After all, there are also other dates throughout the year also relevant to the offer of promotions that convert a greater number of purchases. Now, at Christmas, it is time to seek to strengthen this emotional bond between brands and their customers, so that this connection generates a satisfaction and retention of the consumer to the store, whose results will serve as inputs for the elaboration of assertive strategies throughout the next year.
