Supply chains in retail are becoming increasingly complex and susceptible to disruptions, while the global rise in inflation impacts retailers' costs and alters consumers' buying behavior. In this sector, no year is the same as another, the same can be said about one of the most predictable periods of the calendar: the end-of-year shopping rush.
The months from October to December have, for decades, represented a great revenue generation opportunity, reason why they are often referred to as the "golden quarter". This period includes increasingly globalized events, like Black Friday and Cyber Monday, in addition to the December festivities and promotions that extend until the New Year. This is a time when demand increases significantly, and with which online retail needs to be able to deal and make the most of possible.
However, as consumers affected by changes in the cost of living take a more conservative approach to how they spend their money, requires retail to elevate the level of its operations through data intelligence. Those who can take advantage of the large volume of purchasing information will be able to adopt a more precise and personalized approach, demonstrating value and influencing the behavior change of conservative buyers.
What to expect from the golden quarter of 2024
If there is one thing certain about the 2024 year-end shopping period, the IT and data infrastructure will be essential to take advantage of the increased demand and convert it into sales. In recent years, there is a trend of smoothing out activity peaks during specific promotional events, like Black Friday, because they are no longer concentrated in a single day, and began to extend over weeks and months, allowing greater competitive advantage.
Consumers are increasingly trusting online channels to decide what and where to buy, researching among the various available options. Although previously retailers' technological concerns focused only on preparing and maintaining operations during short-term traffic peaks, the activity is less predictable, currently. The prolonged year-end sales period demands not only resilience, but also intelligence, analysis of customer journeys and adaptation of strategies.
Preparing for success
Retailers need to prepare their systems to handle the high intensity of traffic and the unpredictability of when peaks will occur. When problems are observed and services are impacted during a high traffic period, time is money: companies cannot make their teams available for several days trying to identify and fix failures. It is essential that they implement real-time monitoring, simulating user behavior and testing traffic capacity in advance, ensuring greater confidence in the ability to overcome any occurrences that may arise.
In this scenario, monitoring and observability driven by Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) have proven valuable in e-commerce environments. Complex IT systems can no longer be managed solely by humans, what makes the implementation of AI mandatory to prevent or resolve incidents before they affect the customer or to provide the root cause, the context and the solution of the anomalies for the IT team, so that the resolution occurs almost in real time.
Data-driven insights: the differentiator of winners
In a way, the race for year-end shopping is a high-intensity microcosm of consumer behavior throughout the year. However, when we talk about non-essential expenses, a targeted and strategic approach is essential. The average cart abandonment rate is 66,5%, according to data from OptiMonk and Conversific. The conversion of sales is becoming more difficult, at the same time it is becoming easier to lose it.
When investing in IT observability, retailers can better prepare to take advantage of the golden quarter. Each click, tap or swipe on the screen in the customer journey tells a story. Retailers can capture and visually reproduce a complete digital experience for each user, identifying the friction points that cause cart abandonment. Perhaps the pages are difficult to navigate, mobile device users may be responding differently to certain promotions or certain payment options may be causing unnecessary friction. This detailed level of insights will differentiate the winners, allowing them to offer the most proactive digital experience, continuous and accurate to convert sales.
With an abundance of sales data and customer experience at hand, retailers who invest in extracting insights and answers from this information will be the ones who reap the greatest rewards this shopping season and beyond
