Here at Criteo we think summer, when the sun shines the longest, is the perfect time to kick-off planning for the holidays. That magical time of year will be here before you know it! To help retailers and brands make the season especially bright, we wrapped up the emerging trends and the tips we know will increase sales. Our Enlightened Holiday Hub features a commerce eGuide, plus Quick Guides for specific product categories such as consumer electronics, toys & gaming, home goods, and FMCG. We’ll be refreshing with up-to-the-minute shopper insights throughout the season.
The 2017 holiday season will cap a year of retailer progress: making better use of real-world footprints, rightsizing, refining merchandise focus, and embracing the power and potential of omnichannel. Omnichannel marketing drives both awareness and sales through hyper-personalized experiences, no matter where shoppers find you. It’s now standard to talk about new ways of marketing to shoppers on their terms and enabling them to buy whatever, wherever, and in whichever way they choose. The promise of shopper marketing — using data to talk to shoppers, rather than channels or devices — is finally being achieved.
We work with 15,000 retailers globally, giving us unique insights into how people shop all year, especially at crucial holiday periods. With the Criteo Shopper Story 2017 survey launching this fall, we talked to thousands of shoppers in six countries to find out what motivates them to buy and the journeys they go through to get to that perfect gift.
Here are a few things to look forward to this season:
- Omnishopping is the new normal: Shoppers who both webroom (go online to research but buy in-store) and showroom (see in-store, buy online) are now the majority. In the countries we surveyed, 70 – 90% of omnishoppers do both activities.
- Black Friday is on the rise around the world with double (UK, France, and Germany) and triple (Brazil) digit growth in some countries. In the US, “Cyber Week” continues to encompass the biggest days in ecommerce annually but with some retailers deciding to set their own promotion schedules, conversions rise before Black Friday.
- While shoppers are locking in big gifts earlier than ever in November, procrastinators are purchasing closer to Christmas as the expectation of two-day shipping increases.
What else do we know? Our powerful and open commerce marketing ecosystem will deliver performance at scale for our brands and retailers this holiday. Getting shoppers what they need and love? It’s what we do best.
No matter where you are in the world, here’s to Happy *Almost* Holidays. Feliz Navidad, Schones Weihnachten, Bon Noël, and Happy Christmas!
