Tis’ normally the season for shopping galore, but during uncertain and unprecedented times, what can retailers expect for the holiday season? During the holidays shopping skyrockets and new trends develop, but with COVID-19, already emerging consumer trends have catapulted into full-blown realities. Faulhaber Communications is holiday-ready and put together our top insights to consider in your 2020 holiday marketing strategy.

While holiday spending is expected to decrease, consumers are still going to celebrate.

With such economic instability, it’s not a surprise that consumers will be more conservative with spending this year. Deloitte found that Canadians expect to spend around $1.4K over the 2020 holidays; this is a 17% drop from 2019 ¹. The study also found that travel and dining out were the two most significant areas of spending cuts for consumers, showing that although spending may be down, consumers still plan on spending for gifts this holiday season. Although most Canadians plan on virtual celebrations this year, the study also found that we are still planning on spending the same amount on entertainment as last year ². Faulhaber recommends focusing on the joy of gifting to others this year and how to create new traditions, whether that is decorating for Zoom celebrations or cooking an original family recipe virtually this year.

Safe and seamless shopping experiences are a must. 

With the sudden shift to online shopping as an essential, many shoppers have had to aggressively adapt to a new online-first world. Adobe forecasts that online sales in the US expect to grow 33% this year, and more specifically, 42% of holiday sales will occur via smartphones ³. Aligning with these findings, Think With Google found that 75% of consumers will browse gift ideas and shop primarily online ⁴. The sudden adaptation and reliance on online shopping means brands need to prepare for a seamless online shopping experience. Facebook recommends making online shopping feel like an in-store experience. Ensure all your digital channels are easy to navigate and think about leveraging an omnichannel approach where customers can find products, FAQs, return policies, and services from anywhere they are searching ⁵. Lastly, consider how to incorporate services such as curbside or BOPIS into your shopping experience, as 47% of shoppers said they plan to leverage contactless shopping experiences such as curbside or BOPIS this holiday season ⁶.

Last-minute shopping is a thing of the past. 

Aligning with the heightened importance of safety during COVID-19, 70% of consumers from a Think With Google survey said they would be starting holiday shopping earlier this year; a huge factor is avoiding crowds. Even more interesting, two-thirds of Canadians plan to begin their holiday shopping before Black Friday this year ⁷. Brands should consider taking the stress away from holiday shopping by incorporating earlier and longer running holiday promotions both online and in-store. Will Black Friday turn into Black Friday Week or Black November? We will see.

^{1. Fundamental shifts in holiday shopping habits of Canadians accelerate 2020 holiday retail outlook. (2020). Retrieved from https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/ca/Documents/consumer-industrial-products/ca-en-consumer-industrial-products-deloitte-holiday-retail-outlook-aoda.pdf 2. Fundamental shifts in holiday shopping habits of Canadians accelerate 2020 holiday retail outlook. (2020) 3. Verdon, J. (2020, October 28). Adobe Predicts Record Holiday Season For Online Sales, Expects 33% Growth. Retrieved October 30, 2020, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/joanverdon/2020/10/28/adobe-predicts-record-holiday-season-for-online-sales-expects-33-growth/ 4. How the pandemic may affect holiday shopping. (n.d.). Retrieved October 30, 2020, from https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/consumer-insights/consumer-trends/pandemic-holiday-shopping/ 5. The 2020 Facebook Holiday Package. (2020). Facebook. 6. How the pandemic may affect holiday shopping. 7. How the pandemic may affect holiday shopping.}