Now more than ever, it’s important for retailers to have a roadmap for the year ahead. The coronavirus pandemic has presented unique challenges to retailers — altering consumer expectations, habits, and purchasing behaviour dramatically.
From Valentine’s Day, right up to the holiday season, this handy infographic uses the latest consumer trends, industry insights, and digital best practices to lay out the year’s key seasonal moments. Utilise this calendar to guide your approach, prioritise your next steps, and create a marketing strategy that meets your evolving business needs.
Key takeaways
Understand your existing customers and find new ones
It’s important that customers know you are there for them, even in difficult circumstances. Make sure to stay updated on local market conditions and tune in to the challenges your customers face. Full-funnel audience solutions can identify shoppers with high purchase intent for each of the moments in our seasonal calendar. Optimise this information and expand your customer base by reaching undecided shoppers who are searching for products like yours.
Tell your brand story and plan accordingly
Whether you’re a small local business or a multi-channel retailer, it’s important to create real value to stand out during key seasonal moments. As consumers are turning online to do their research, video is becoming more important to drive brand awareness. Connect and inspire through excellent creatives, combined with robust demographic and affinity audience strategies. You can capture demand in the weeks and months leading up to the moment by identifying rising searches on Google Trends. And be ready to adjust your plans on a weekly basis as you assess the shifts in consumer behaviour patterns.
Listen intentently and be flexible
As the current situation evolves, it‘s vital to monitor campaign performance and continually reassess the context and tone of your marketing messages. Be prepared to reinvent your offering for certain moments and adapt to the times to keep customers on your website. Remaining flexible is key in these changing times, to stay connected with customers and support their specific needs during each of these important seasonal moments for retail.
Save or download your full seasonal retail calendar here.
