The Holiday Season is a make-or-break season for many brands around the world. Fragrances for example is a classic example of a category that pretty much generates the lion’s share of its sales during the Holiday Season. 

As one of the largest and most important trading periods, the holidays present a huge opportunity to engage consumers who are looking to gifting others and themselves. This dual psychological mindset has a multiplier effect as people are not only buying for themselves, but for others too.

This active desire to gift coupled with personal gratification and the emotional release of their purse strings is why this is one of the best times to engage with consumers, but you need to have a strategy that helps you stand out from the competitive noise.

By executing the right strategy, brands can also increase customer loyalty and engagement, which helps boosts sales and brand awareness over the long-term.

PLAYING THE PROMOTIONAL GAME IN THE HOLIDAY SEASON

Effective promotions are driven by the ability to create theatre and excitement at the point of sale. Of all the trading periods, The Holidays lends itself best to promotional engagement.

Out of all the benefits that a promotion offers, the most important purpose that a promotion offers is that it sets you apart from your competitors and makes it easier for your product to catch the eye of your consumers. In this competitive world, companies must constantly look at ways that keep their consumers loyal to their product/service, and promotions can help you do just that.

In 2021, 81% of Indian shoppers enjoyed discounts and promotions, up from 74% in 2020, showed the latest NielsenIQ report. Combined with the fact that 91% of Indian consumers are planning a purchase during the upcoming festival season and 6 in 10 are interested in learning about new brands during festival season sales, the holiday season becomes a force that you, as a company, absolutely have to be able to harness.

How soon is too soon to start planning?

Never! When it comes to the holiday season, one can only get ahead of the rest by planning and implementing their strategies early. However, the right time to start planning your holiday promotional execution strategies would be right before the festivities hit.

Much like the US and other countries, October, November, and December culminate in the largest annual shopping season in India. Filled with festivals and fueled by the belief that it’s an auspicious time to shop, consumers plan their shopping around this season to get the best offers. And you, as a brand, should respond by giving them exactly what they want at this crucial time of the year. 

According to a study by Google, Indian consumers start their shopping planning and searches 2-3 weeks before Diwali, and online shopping in this season grows 15% faster signalling a strong desire to buy during the festive season. 

So, what can you do to tap into the minds of consumers looking to buy during this festive season?

TIPS TO MAXIMISE SALES DURING THE HOLIDAY SEASON

When it comes to the promotional game, there are tried and tested ways to maximise results from your consumer promotions. Below are a few tips that have worked for brand across multiple sectors in the past.

1) Assured Rewards: Instant redemptions that work wonders

One of the most important features of a promotion is it can be the difference between a consumer picking up your product or a competitor’s product.

It acts as the extra nudge to consumers who plan to spend anyway. If you differentiate yourself by offering an assured reward on purchase, it will leave your consumers feeling reassured and positive. About 90% of consumers say they will use a digital coupon that is offered upon the purchase of a product.

BigCity has, in the past, produced tremendous results for FMCG brands that offer cashbacks on their products and has found that offering cashbacks during the holiday season instantly gives the brand an edge over their competitors.

2) Experiential Rewards: Experiences are just worth more

A memory can be a very powerful thing. Our lives are defined by our memories and the experiences that we have. They help to create stories which are inherently shareable. A reward or a recognition ceremony that lends itself to a story is more likely to be shared and remembered. Meaning experiences that can be shared on social media can be a great asset to your Holiday campaign.

Experiential rewards create healthy, long-term loyalty to your product/service. As a brand, associating yourself with the holidays by offering experiences that are memorable are a great way to build consumer loyalty.

To paint a picture, BigCity took consumers who purchased their favourite brand of biscuits to see the Cricket World Cup live. This cemented the brand in the minds of their consumers as an entity that deeply cares about them and paved the way for long lasting brand loyalty.

3) Gamification: Break out from the content clutter

In the last few years, technology has undeniably taken the upper hand in every way possible. And this is proving to be truer in the promotional space, with every passing day. Gamified mechanisms that offer rewards at the end makes the redemption process more engaging and breaks through the clutter of traditional rewarding.

In fact, A Gartner report shows that gamification has now been adopted by more than 70% of businesses belonging to the Global 2000 list of companies. It will help your brand differentiate yourself from all your competitors who are trying to communicate with your TG and leave a long-lasting impression in the minds of your consumers.

In a space where consumers would have a very vanilla journey to claim rewards BigCity has spiced up the journey by adding interactive gamified experiences like Spin the wheel, Augmented reality games and quizzes among others. This has helped brand make their user journeys more memorable and gain more remembrance amongst their existing customers.

4) Contests and Sweepstakes: Minute to win it? More like, every minute, you win it!

Sweepstakes are a type of contest in which people submit an entry for the chance to win a prize, and winners are picked at random. Brands that run sweepstakes promotions typically offer a “grand prize”, making all consumer journeys aspirational. Every brand that runs contests and sweepstakes have found that by offering an aspirational reward, consumer behavior is highly influenced. When consumers are informed, they have the chance to win a larger-than-life reward, they tend to engage with the product for a longer period.

BigCity told users that everyone who completed a purchase at a well-known retail outlet, would automatically be entered into a sweepstake where they stood a chance to win a trip to Goa. By offering one high-rider prize and multiple assured rewards, we increased brand stand out with consumers.

5) Affinity Based Rewarding: When rewarding gets personal

Holidays are one of the most powerful passion points and are always associated with gifts and celebrations.

By providing your consumers with the option to reward a loved one, you’re incentivizing not only their purchase, but also their behavior. By planning your rewards accordingly, and enabling customers to gift their loved ones, your brand can take its association with holidays up a notch!

ACE YOUR GAME THIS HOLIDAY SEASON 

With the world constantly evolving, all consumers have high expectations of their brands. They expect them to be on top of the holiday season and offer them experiences no one else can.

This is where BigCity comes in. Based on insights from working with 400+ blue-chip brands, we have successfully executed over 6000+ campaigns in consumer promotions, loyalty programs, and rewards management whilst being empowered by relevant cutting-edge technology.

To discuss how we can assist you in creating your next promotional campaign, drop us a line at marketing@bigcity.in.