While seasonal consumer behaviour can be predicted up to a point, fluctuations such as weather and national events can quickly foil a brands carefully planned marketing campaign.
Michael Rausch, General Manager for Europe and North America at Become Europe offers 5 key tips to getting the most out of seasonal promotions.
Managing seasonal sales and promotions forms an integral part of every retailer’s arsenal – when done successfully, it can drive sales consistently throughout the year while providing customers with a convenient and relevant service that delivers what they need, when they need it.
The key to a strong seasonal promotion rests on a variety of factors but can be boiled down to the following: understanding the customer’s motivations and behaviours, and merchandising products accordingly.
Although this sounds simple enough, it is still possible for retailers to fall into the trap of relying on accepted wisdom and conventional ideas about how and why people buy things at different times of year – sometimes ignoring evidence that might contradict these industry protocols, or losing sight of new opportunities for promotions.
However, if retailers are willing to break with tradition and strive to discover what their customers really want over the course of the year, surprising insights may be gained – and steps can be taken to prepare for seasonal promotions that really work.
1. Be sensitive to factors that can change customer behaviours
Although shopping patterns are predictable up to a point, there are circumstances that can skew expected trends in new directions, such as unseasonal weather conditions. During the cold and rainy summer of 2013, we saw significant shifts in the types of products that were being bought in the UK – where barbecues, hiking equipment and outdoor furniture had done well in the past, people were instead turning to health and wellbeing products like vitamins, cold remedies and diet and nutrition aids. In the absence of summer sunshine, it seemed that UK consumers were opting for ‘feel-good’ items to boost their mood during the adverse conditions.
The financial climate can also have consequences; budget retailers like Poundland and Primark took advantage of the 2008 economic downturn by understanding that people had started to make their shopping decisions based primarily on affordability, and tailored their message of bargain prices and on-trend fashion to their respective audiences – profits skyrocketed as a result. Other retailers developed ‘recession busting’ products and services – even upmarket brands like Waitrose brought out a cheaper ‘essential’ range in a bid to retain customers during the credit crunch.
Millions of shoppers use price comparison sites to find relevant seasonal deals, as well as the rest of the year round. By adapting a product data feed for a price comparison provider, retailers can effectively double the reach of their promotional activity, as the price comparison site will also be pushing appropriate seasonal merchandise. Using these portals can gain significant numbers of new customers for retailers, too – our research has shown that price comparison sites are often a vital ‘trigger’ in directing a customer towards making a purchase, with a high proportion of these being first-time sales.
Depending on how informal or friendly a brand’s relationship with its customers is, political or current events like elections or news stories can be light-heartedly harnessed to boost sales. Earlier this year, a London hairdresser memorably used a large image of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un’s distinctive hairstyle on a poster in its window emblazoned with the words “BAD HAIR DAY?” followed by a promotional haircut offer – this proved controversial and a little risky, but by humorously referencing a topical event, the shop attracted a huge amount of positive attention and benefited as a result.
Flexibility around these factors and reacting quickly and sensitively to new circumstances can improve customer loyalty as well as boosting sales.
2. Remember that seasonality is no longer restricted to Christmas and Easter
Although Christmas is still the most profitable shopping period of the year, there is now an almost endless array of exciting events, holidays and occasions to build original and compelling promotions around. With a little creative thinking, there is potential for boosted sales throughout the retail calendar.
For example, while it is common knowledge that fitness equipment and gym memberships see a sales spike just after Christmas during the influx of good-intentioned New Year’s resolutions, it is also possible to successfully promote these products at other times of year, such as in the run-up to Valentine’s Day with discounted couples memberships, just after the Easter Weekend to counteract those chocolate treats, or as thoughtful gifts for Mother’s and Father’s Day. National Sports Week is an annual occurrence, while Sport Relief rolls around every two years, not to mention Walk To Work Week… the list of relevant promotional opportunities quickly starts to rack up, and it’s easy to see how campaigns based on these events could result in steadily increased sales all year round.
It is worth remembering that with an increased level of seasonal promotional activity, retailers using price comparison websites should pay special attention to making sure their product data feeds are up to date; information such as delivery times and stock availability must be accurate or retailers run the risk of alienating customers with false information. During seasonal shopping periods, easy transactions are key, but a neglected data-feed can weaken relationships with customers.
While it is vital for companies with niche or specific offerings such as sports gear to latch onto relevant national events like The Olympics, Wimbledon or the World Cup, these can also hold opportunities for a wide variety of other types of retailers, as seen with London 2012 where the vast majority of UK retailers found a way to make a link between their product and the event and run suitable promotions. By attaching themselves to a high profile and historic occasion, these brands were able to share in its powerful legacy.
3. Consider charitable promotions to give customers the ‘feelgood factor’
It is worth remembering that while promotions are mainly designed to increase sales, they can also be used to ‘give something back’ – a charity promotion is a good way of achieving this. Many retailers get on board with events like Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Movember or Comic Relief to align their brand with a good cause, which can contribute to a more positive brand identity and a more loyal customer base as a result.
For example, Movember was a natural promotional opportunity for men’s haircare brands Just For Men and Gillette – in 2011, both launched ad campaigns raising awareness for Movember as well as becoming its official sponsors. The charity’s messaging has a fun and light-hearted approach to the topic of men’s health, and the two brands’ ad campaigns reflected this – as a side effect of the sponsorship, both brands enjoyed positive attention for drawing attention to a good cause, thus strengthening their relationship with their customers.
4. Get back to basics with a clear, easily optimised website
Once a good promotional opportunity has been identified, it’s time for retailers to ensure that their websites make it as easy as possible for customers to find what they want, while being flexible and easily modified at a moment’s notice.
It is essential that the process of designing an effective online promotion is simple and stress-free – this will make it easy to react quickly to customer trends and create impromptu promotions to harness profitable moments in between the more traditional seasonal periods. If a retailer is already personalising its site or emails, seasonal promotions should also be made personal – using the information they have about customers will help retailers to tailor campaigns according to the behaviours of each individual, making a sale far more likely.
Retailers should also remember that no matter how great a promotion is, if customers’ eyes are not drawn to the products in question, chances of increased sales are much lower. To prevent a promotion becoming lost on a page, it is important to make sure that merchandise is clearly highlighted as being part of the campaign, complete with bold design such as a unified colour scheme, banners and calls to action. A user experience expert could help with this aspect of the website.
5. Analyse last year’s promotion to make this year’s better
Carefully examining the results of last year’s seasonal promotions can be a great help when designing a new one. By looking deeper into which products sold best and on which days of the promotion this happened, retailers can better understand how to merchandise specific products and ranges, as well as learning more about how customers really shop – as opposed to just predicting how their customers will shop.
When planning a new promotion, it can also be helpful to look at sales data from the past year – or even several years back, if it’s available – and try to isolate any unexpected sales increases. These could be clues to undiscovered seasonal opportunities that can then be integrated into the calendar for future promotions.
Some previously bestselling seasonal products and ranges may fall out of fashion while others may come to the fore unexpectedly, or at a different time than usual. This process will continue evolving as each year passes – the customer never stands still, and keeping in touch with their behaviours will ultimately decide the success of any campaign.
By Michael Rausch
General Manager for Europe and North America
Become Europe
www.become.eu/en