You may have seen figures from BDO, the accountancy firm, which show that like-for-like sales on the high street fell 1.4% year-on-year in December. The fashion sector saw sales down 3.1% for the month and 6.1% year-on-year on the high street. However brands including House of Fraser said online sales rose by more than 31 per cent over Christmas and John Lewis reported a sales jump of 19% through online. Nick Fletcher, Director of Service Strategy at Rakuten Marketing Europe looks at why January can be a difficult month for retailers though and brands need to put strategies in place to combat this quieter time.
It’s been a challenging period for the high street as customers have turned from the tills to the internet. The high street has struggled to compete with the convenience and speed of online shopping, and with tablets on top of the gift list this year, many people enjoyed purchasing on them.
However, it’s the brands that tie their online and offline services together that are seeing the greatest sales, offering services like click and collect to drive shoppers in store.
After a competitive Christmas, it can be a struggle for retailers to get shoppers spending again in January, so offering great customer experience and targeting customers effectively through marketing is key.
For example, by implementing a retargeting campaign, brands can reach customers based on what they have already purchased. If a shopper bought flights as a Christmas present, a retailer could follow up with hotel offers for that destination.
Using data, retailers can make better decisions about how to target customers in January, and in turn drive sales by rewarding returning, loyal customers.
Partnerships that enable retailers to offer good value (for example, cashback or voucher deals) can also keep customers coming back. Cashback incentivises people to purchase, rather than just raising awareness, which is beneficial at this time of year when purse strings are tighter.”
By Nick Fletcher
Director of Service Strategy
Rakuten Marketing Europe
http://marketing.rakuten.co.uk/