The last few years have been difficult for the e-commerce industry, however, whenever it comes to the holiday season, shoppers always keep their spirits up. Even during the pandemic, holiday sales totaled 771.06 billion dollars, which further increased nearly by 20% in 2021. Such numbers clearly revealed that shoppers don’t compromise on celebrating when it’s around the holidays and they are willing to spend to see their demands met.

Brands also look forward to the holiday season to launch their new products in the market, because during this season people are open to try out new products and experimenting with their shopping patterns. Speaking of the seasons, the global holiday season 2022 is around the corner, and here are 5 customer trends you should, ‘capitalize on’, and 5 wrong turns you should avoid; in order to boost sales: 

1. Consumer trend to cash in on: Understanding the new timeline

Present-day shoppers are becoming more flexible in their shopping patterns, 39% of the American population concludes their online shopping a month before the holiday season. This means that sellers have to walk a step ahead of the shoppers to launch their holiday sales and new products a month prior so that they get the expected traffic during the holiday season. For instance, in the year 2021 Walmart started its holiday season sale from October to December. During these months they earned a profit of 150 million dollars. 

Pitfalls to avoid: chaotic ad management 

One of the biggest challenges to overcome during the holiday season is ad management. Not only during the holiday season, but also throughout the year, managing ads is not an easy task. So, to avoid chaotic ad management every marketplace should have an effective ad management system so that, the advertising activities take place in an organized and systematic manner during the holiday sale.

2. Consumer trend to cash in on: Brands that stay in sight stay in mind

Creating awareness about the changing timelines of holiday offers and sales is one of the most important factors because if shoppers are not aware of your product or your holiday discount offer, then how are they supposed to make their purchase? Your brand needs to stay in sight of your shoppers. For instance, the awareness for the campaign started a month before Amazon Prime Day. The Prime day lasts for 48 hours for which they advertised for a month, which encashed them a profit of 19 million dollars in just two days. 

Pitfalls to avoid: Unable to create brand awareness

Many products are not able to perform well in the market due to a lack of awareness because they are not able to create enough awareness, to reach high-intent shoppers. So, to avoid such a situation, retail media platforms like Monetize offer brands to run an awareness campaign on apps and websites which will allow your brand's ad to make an impression on their audience. After creating product awareness, there is a higher possibility that the product might end up in the shopping cart. 

3. Consumer trend to cash in on: Top search results are most likely to be top purchases

It is a proven fact that products that appear on the top of the relevant search results are most likely to be added to the shopping cart as most people do not scroll through the whole page. This way relevant products will appear on top search results, which will allow shoppers to have a better shopping experience. 

Pitfalls to avoid: Failing to appear on top search results

The majority of products fail because they are not able to surface on the top relevant search results, so to fix that problem ad server platforms offer sponsored product ads to features that help the products to surface on top of a relevant search result. 

4. Consumer trend to cash in on: Integrating online and offline shoppers

Integration of offline and online markets is one of the best ways to advertise in the modern market because most boomers prefer offline shopping over online. So, to reach out to offline shoppers through an online portal brands are integrating online and offline shopping. For instance, Shoppers Stop express pickup allows the shopper to place their order online and then allows them to pick up their order from a nearby Shoppers Stop Store, after which their net profit accounted for 22.83 Million dollars. 

Pitfalls to avoid: Unable to integrate online and offline shopping platforms

Retail media platforms offer DOOH services, which helps in engaging and re-engaging with shoppers who still prefer offline stores. Consisting of engaging billboards, digital out-of-home advertising is the key to that. It uses an online display ad that helps in targeting and engaging potential customers. Meanwhile, it offers complete immunity from the ad blocker. 

5. Consumer trend to cash in on: The value of customer connection

A brand needs to have a loyal customer base, which adds to the goodwill of the brand. An excellent way of adding value to the customer connection is by sending them personalized messages or adding a holiday card to their purchase, these practices increase the credibility of your brand which shoppers appreciate. 

Pitfalls to avoid: Difficulty in personalization: 

Most brands find it difficult to retarget their audience due to the death of third-party cookies. So, to fix that problem, a retail media platform is the best solution as it has access to first-party data that is cleaner and more reliable in tracking shoppers' behavior patterns, which makes it easy to launch personalized campaigns. 

So, to sum up we can say retail media platforms are effective advertising solutions that can help brands effectively advertise their products and allow marketplaces to generate extra revenue. Furthermore, it has many things to offer. Talk to an expert to know more about it.