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4 Leading Ecommerce Trends to Leverage During the 2022 Holiday Season
Contributions by our panelists from Tydo, Treet, and EcoCart.
The holiday sales season is right around the corner—and it’s going to be big. If Amazon’s record-breaking Prime Day this year was any indicator, customers are ready to shop. For ecommerce brands, this is an exciting opportunity to drive sales, reach new customers, and end the year on a high note.
But it won’t be an easy feat.
With rising CAC and changing consumer behavior, among other factors, brands have quite a few hurdles to overcome if they want to stand out from the crowd and acquire new customers. Luckily, there are several innovative tools brands can leverage to do this.
Last week, we joined our friends at Ecocart, Tydo, and Treet in a discussion about the top four ecommerce trends that brands should leverage for this holiday season. Read on for our major takeaways that can help you succeed.
1. Know Your Customers, Drive Repeat Sales with QR Codes
Our CEO and co-founder Kait Stephens discussed how brands can leverage QR codes to educate customers, acquire first-party data, and drive loyalty & reorder.
QR codes have become a key part of omnichannel marketing. In fact, QR codes are expected to replace barcodes in retail by 2027. This holiday season is the perfect time to hop on this rocket ship.
We’ll explore the many ways you can leverage QR codes to get the most out of this holiday season. To begin, there are three key areas that brands should focus on when strategizing:
- Shopper behavior
- CAC and Customer Retention
- Gifting
Shopper Behavior
If we take a look at where customers usually shop during the holidays, it comes to no surprise that a lot of traffic is going to retailers. Last year, Amazon captured nearly 18% of all Black Friday dollars, more than any other retailer. Coupled with the fact that more than 50% of ecommerce sales are through Amazon, brands can’t miss out on selling through retailers this holiday season. But while these marketplaces are great for driving traffic, they also drive up a data wall.
What this means is that brands need first-party data more than ever. This is where QR codes come in. When brands leverage QR codes on products or product inserts, they have a reliable way to engage new customers, collect first-party data, and drive retention. Given that 70% of BFCM purchases are mobile, Brij’s mobile-first QR code experiences help brands meet customers where they are.
CAC and Customer Retention
Acquiring new customers is getting more expensive. In fact, following Apple’s privacy changes back in 2021, the cost of customer acquisition (CAC) surged 200% that year! This means that brands should maximize their sales effort by driving retention with new customers. With QR codes, brands can bring retail customers directly into their ecommerce experience and encourage reorder, subscription opt-in, and much more.
Gifting
Approximately one-fifth of Black Friday spend is on gifts. With gifting, brands don’t know who the end recipient is, missing out on opportunities to convert them. This is where QR codes can bridge the gap and allow brands insight into who these customers are.
Bottom Line: When you leverage QR codes on your products or product inserts, you can sell in 3rd party channels knowing that you won’t be sacrificing customer data. Knowing who these customers are makes creating personalized experiences and driving retention much easier.
Learn more about Brij here.
2. Prep Your Store for Holiday Hyper-Growth with Analytics
Blair Beckwith, Director of Partnerships at Tydo, advised brands to lay the foundation early and focus on maximizing key analytics to prepare for the holiday hyper-growth.
How early are brands preparing for BFCM? Nearly a month in advance, which is why it is critical that you prep your foundation now. With analytics, you can make better, more informed decisions to improve your business. To set the stage, we start by organizing metrics into clusters, each of which tells a story about a particular aspect of your business and where you can improve.
These are four clusters of the most important high-level metrics:
- Key performance metrics. Keep a constant pulse on total sales, total spend, users, conversion rate, and AOV.
- Sales Data. Know where your dollars are coming from by comparing your sales over time, identifying high-performing products, and understanding first-time versus repeat orders.
- Site Performance. Know who is coming to your site and if they are converting.
- Channel Efficiency. Confirm that your ad spend is moving the needle, and focus on ad spend, conversion by medium, and channel performances.
To prepare for the holiday hyper-growth, merchants need to measure and optimize three metrics:
- Onsite conversions. To improve your site performance, keep an eye on your AOV per segment, time on site, and desktop vs. mobile behavior. Knowing that the majority (70%) of BFCM sales are made on mobile devices, make sure your mobile experience is frictionless. There are several creative ways you can increase onsite conversions—ever tried using an exit offer quiz?
- Average Order Value. To increase AOV, you need to increase the amount your customers are spending. For the holidays in particular, you should leverage digital gifting and upsells. Both stages of gifting—the gift card purchase and redemption—are opportunities for increasing AOV. In fact, nearly 87% of recipients say they are likely to spend more than the value of the gift card. With upsells, you can showcase recommendations in the post-purchase experience, such as in the order confirmation page or thank-you email.
- Paid Media Spend. Paid ads is a powerful acquisition channel for ecommerce brands. The key to optimizing this channel is to leverage your data and update your strategy in real-time.
Bottom Line: By measuring and optimizing your key metrics, you can prepare more strategically and get the most out of the holiday hyper-growth.
Learn more about Tydo here.
3. Increase Customer LTV with Recommerce
Jake Disraeli, co-founder and CEO of Treet, showed the importance of branded resale and why the holidays and resale are the perfect duo.
Resale is growing in popularity, and this holiday season presents numerous opportunities to leverage secondhand items to increase customer lifetime value. The US market alone for secondhand apparel is expected to more than double in the next four years. Ready to open a new revenue stream?
The key benefits of resale are:
- Greater circularity. When you buy a used item, you reduce its carbon footprint by 82%.
- Increase customer LTV. Sellers spend 125% more when they redeem in-store credit.
- Gain new customers. Resale is a channel for a new kind of shopper. 42% of Treet shoppers are net new for brands.
- Increase conversion on new product sales. 43% of customers are more likely to buy.
Three resale models to consider:
- Peer-to-peer. Customers sell items to each other for either brand credit or a lesser value in cash.
- Brand Direct. In addition to used items, you can also sell imperfect, returned, or unsold items.
- Managed. Customers send their items in for credit they can use in your store.
Why you should leverage resale this holiday season:
- More customers want to shop sustainably. They’re participating in events like Green Monday and joining the “No New Clothes” pledges. An innovative way to meet these expectations is to offer secondhand gifts. Customers view them as an opportunity to find better deals and unique gifts. The majority of Gen Z (72%) are open to receiving secondhand gifts.
- Plan for unforeseeable supply chain issues. Resale is a perfect way to combat ongoing supply chain disruptions. By getting rid of the risk of items going out of stock or delayed shipping, you can make a great impression with your customers.
- Drive the most revenue during your busiest quarter. Resale is an additional revenue stream that attracts both firsthand and secondhand shoppers.
Bottom Line: With resale, you can increase customer lifetime value, extend product lifetime, and achieve greater circularity for your brand.
Learn more about Treet here.
4. Foster Loyalty and Drive Sales with Sustainable Shopping Experiences
Jake Chatt, Head of Marketing at EcoCart, demonstrated how you can differentiate your brand with values-driven experiences in three steps.
Amidst all the exciting sales and deals happening during the holiday season, customers are also concerned about the amount of waste being generated, and 92% of them want brands to take climate action. Given rising CAC and nearly 90% increase in YOY ad costs, brands need to take a values-driven approach and incorporate sustainable practices into their business.
To differentiate yourself from your competition and drive sales this Black Friday, take these three steps:
- Inform. Every customer relationship should be founded on value. It’s critical to both understand your customer’s needs and meet those expectations with authenticity and empathy. Show your customers that your values align with theirs by being transparent throughout the entire customer journey and delivering a frictionless customer experience.
- Educate. Once you convert a customer, you can start to build a strong relationship with them through brand education and transparency. You can demonstrate your brand’s commitment to sustainable practices in a variety of ways, such as carbon neutral shipping and a live impact page.
- Connect. This final step is all about continuing to grow your customer relationships. Whether it’s partnering with a cause that resonates with your audience or creating impact in local communities, there are many ways that you can connect with customers. These efforts pay off—happy customers are more likely to recommend your brand and leave genuine reviews that differentiate you from the competition. By cultivating these relationships, you create a perfect cycle of acquisition and retention.
Bottom Line: By leveraging sustainable shopping experiences this holiday season, you can reach and engage high-intent customers and begin cultivating a strong community.
Learn more about EcoCart here.
Come prepared to the 2022 Holidays Sales Season
If you’ve made it all the way here, you’re ready for this holiday season. With our cornucopia of innovative ecommerce tools, you can tackle everything from rising CAC to changing customer behavior.
Good luck!
