Tapping into shopping trends is an important part of retail success. Spotting those trends can be easier than a lot of people think – it’s all about knowing where the shopping peaks are, then focusing your attention on them.
In any given year there are plenty of focused periods of retail activity. They’re a perfect opportunity for some carefully planned, customer-centric marketing and sales wins. Because if you could tap into the interest and enthusiasm these events generate, you could start to capture some of the sales associated with them.
Here are a few ideas to help get you started.
Tapping into shopping trends is an important part of retail success. Spotting those trends can be easier than a lot of people think – it’s all about knowing where the shopping peaks are, then focusing your attention on them.
In any given year there are plenty of focused periods of retail activity. They’re a perfect opportunity for some carefully planned, customer-centric marketing and sales wins. Because if you could tap into the interest and enthusiasm these events generate, you could start to capture some of the sales associated with them.
Here are a few ideas to help get you started.
The end is only the beginning
Let’s get the Big One out of the way first. Around one-fifth of retail sales happen in the end-of-year peak. It kicks off in late November, taking in Singles Day, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Hannukah, Christmas, and Kwanza. Relying on one big peak may have been enough in the past. But times have changed. Thankfully, there are plenty of opportunities to be found elsewhere throughout the year.
This sporting life
In 2024, there are major sports events to meet just about every taste: Euro 2024, the Olympics, Paralympics and men's and women's T20 Cricket World Cups. Not forgetting regulars like Wimbledon, the British Grand Prix, and test cricket.
TV sales typically increase by 5% whenever there’s a football World Cup. The last World Cup, hosted in Qatar in 2022, generated around £1.6 billion in UK retail sales. Food, drinks, and other home-entertainments are also high spending categories. So, too are things like shirts, scarves, flags and banners in the full range of participating countries’ colours.
Health and wellbeing
From coughs and colds to seasonal allergies, lots of people find themselves feeling under the weather no matter the weather. In 2023, £583 million was spent on remedies and treatments for coughs, colds and sore throats.
Offer tips and information on staying well, along with stories from customers who can tell their own stories. Demonstrate that you are knowledgeable and trusted by other customers, and people will be drawn to you in greater numbers.
The great outdoors
Speaking of the seasons, every spring millions of people discover or rekindle their love of gardening. The pandemic saw record spending on gardens – reaching more than £18.6 billion according to the specialist DIY site, InsightDIY. It also crunched the Google search data to compare 2020 and 2021 and found that searches for the term ‘garden furniture’ rocketed 293%.
Encourage your customers to share photos in their feedback – ideally showing them enjoying some outdoor time with whatever they just bought from you. That will help other shoppers to picture themselves in a similar way.
Beware of the bandwagon
There are some particularly important dates that you may want to pay attention to throughout the year. The list includes Pride Month, Juneteenth, Diwali, Ramadan, Lunar New Year, Black History Month and more.
Proceed with caution, though. Don’t cynically attach your marketing to something that is hugely significant to great numbers of people if all that matters to you is making a few extra sales. Instead, make sure you are in-step with the things that matter to your customers and act accordingly. You can use polls and surveys – via email, or social, or a third-party such as Feefo – to understand what motivates your customers.
Remember, when it comes to reviews and advocacy there are some immutable truths – honesty, trust, and relevance are just three of them. Start planning for and building up your library of feedback in areas that will be relevant to the events you want to target, whether that’s the World Cup, Wimbledon, or World Book Day.
Advocacy is a key focus for us, here at Feefo – we want the world to know what a great job you’re doing at looking after your customers. We’re experts at helping businesses like yours to be more customer-centric and to find ways of generating more revenue from customer loyalty.
If that sounds like something that could help you, drop us a line – we’d love to talk.
