Though today’s shoppers can be especially careful decision-makers, they’re still ready to spend on festive holidays. These moments drive shopping intent. So, as part of their holiday marketing strategy, marketers should understand how consumers approach them year-round, not just in December.
What does this mean for the industry? With the right combination of best-in-class shopper insights and AI-powered ad solutions, marketers can build consumer confidence and drive purchase intent during major shopping moments around the world. Here’s how.
Tap into mindsets to make the most of seasonal moments
Shoppers fluidly move through different mindsets — deliberate, deal-seeking, determined, and devoted — as they approach seasonal moments. While people usually exhibit a combination of the four behaviours, some are more prominent as shoppers move closer to a specific sales day or cultural moment. By aligning your brand strategy to these mindsets, you can strengthen your customer connections and drive greater results at each crucial stage.
Deliberate
Shoppers in the deliberate mindset like to plan ahead. They’re looking for inspiration, doing their research, and even making purchasing decisions well ahead of seasonal moments, including the holiday sales season. In fact, 59% of holiday shoppers know what gifts they are buying heading into December.1 Roughly three-quarters of purchases made from October 2023 to January 2024 were researched, with consumers saying they did “a lot of research” for a quarter of those purchase occasions.2
Sales days are often the drivers of this type of deliberate behaviour, because consumers want to be ready as soon as the right deal presents itself. Last year, global searches for “black friday” started climbing as early as October. What’s more, the majority (58%) of consumers themselves said in early October 2023 that they would think about what they wanted to shop for during major sales days ahead of time.3 This is why you should promote your services and products early, even if actual conversions won’t happen until a later time.
Using YouTube Video View campaigns and Video Reach campaigns, you can inspire deliberate shoppers as they browse for gifts and then convert them with a clear call to action. You can capture even more intent by running Demand Gen campaigns to drive action.
Deal-seeking
Deal-seeking is an “always-on” behaviour that’s not tied to a single sales day. In fact, 75% of holiday shoppers said they keep their eyes open for promotions throughout the holiday shopping season.4 For them, these moments are the kickoff for future festivities.
By strategically planning promotions that build anticipation ahead of key dates, marketers can extend the shopping intent beyond a single day for sustained performance throughout the season. Drive engagement with deal-seeking shoppers by providing key information like deals, ratings, reviews, and fulfillment options within your product listings.
Additionally, advertisers connect more effectively with shoppers, ensuring these strategically planned promotions are seen during the shopper’s research and consideration phases. Advertisers in the European Economic Area (EEA), United Kingdom and Switzerland can get in front of deal-seeking shoppers through Google’s Comparison Shopping Services (CSS) programme.5
CSS Partners use their expertise to place Shopping ads and product listings on Google on behalf of advertisers, showcasing products alongside similar offers from other retailers. The shopper is able to compare features and prices, and in some cases filter by brand, size and colour.
Determined
As a holiday or key moment gets closer, people start feeling the pressure and move into the determined mindset. There, even the most diligent shoppers can find themselves purchasing at the last minute. Last year, on average, consumers only completed less than half (43%) of their holiday shopping by December, leaving a huge opportunity to capture sales beyond Cyber 5.6 To reach people determined to get their shopping done quickly, it’s crucial to think ahead and retain some marketing budget for a late-season push.
This is particularly critical in 2024, as Black Friday will happen five days later than last year, giving people less time to complete their holiday shopping during peak season. The timing has implications beyond the U.S. market too. In the U.K., Germany, and Australia, the importance of Black Friday shopping has increased over time.7 And, in markets where importance has remained consistent, like Brazil and France, the majority say Black Friday is important for their holiday shopping.8
In these last-minute shopping moments, many shoppers turn to Google to help them find the information they need to complete purchases. Performance Max campaigns can help you reach determined shoppers across touchpoints and in the moments they’re ready to buy.
In the final lead-up, determined shoppers are looking to get gifts well past last shipment dates, hoping to guarantee pre-holiday arrival. With Local Inventory Ads and Performance Max for store goals, you can promote specific business locations and product promotions, as well as approach shoppers when last-minute shopping intent is at its peak. With these ads, shoppers can find holiday store hours, nearby store inventory, and fulfillment options like buy online, pickup in-store; pickup today; same-day delivery; and more.
Devoted
Following key holiday shopping moments, many consumers want to continue shopping for their own enjoyment; self-gifting and deal-seeking are prevalent behaviours. Brands have a clear opportunity to serve devoted shoppers past the peak shopping season, earning brand loyalty for the coming year. In the first two months of 2024, we saw more than 40% of shopping searches on Google mention a brand or retailer name.9
As shoppers get acquainted with your brand, positive experiences are crucial to forming a sense of closeness. Studies show that quality, trust, reputation, and service help connect shoppers to brands.10 What’s more, purchases that were researched are more likely to have consumers report that they feel close with the brand.11 Those connections yield results: a fifth of purchases during the holiday season were made using loyalty points.12
With consumers continuing to shop after peak periods, retailers have the chance to drive ongoing customer loyalty and high lifetime value. If you have an app, a great way to drive loyalty is to promote it. AI-powered tools like App campaigns can reduce legwork by helping you easily find and retain users, and boost your app across Google properties.
While holidays and key moments may differ from market to market, the thoughtful way shoppers approach them is near universal. Retailers must shift their marketing strategies toward optimising for the moments that matter as shoppers cycle through mindsets. By reaching out with AI-powered ad tools based on their priorities at a given stage, you can make every connection with every holiday shopper count.
