The holiday season is here! In fact, 40% of U.S. shoppers have already started shopping online for the holidays, according to Google Research and Ipsos. Although it’s been over a year, the COVID-19 pandemic still affects the operation of businesses. To help your business adapt to these changes and still increase your sales, this article provides must-have information for businesses today.
From the best digital marketing company in Pasadena to you, here are three early holiday shopping trends for 2021:
- People have started shopping for holidays early this year.
- Expect scarcity due to supply-chain challenges.
- Local SEO becomes more important than ever.
1 – People have started shopping for holidays early this year.
According to Google, 31% of U.S. consumers had already begun their holiday shopping in June 2021. On the same note, 44% of shoppers plan to shop earlier than they did last year.
And with the holidays just around the corner, marketers and retailers are fighting to get their marketing material game up. To cut through the noise, you need to capture consumers’ interest early on. Personalize your marketing messages and deliver a good shopping experience for each of your customers.
According to Elliot Nix, the head of YouTube sales, “72% of consumers are likely to be loyal to a brand when they receive a personalized experience with additional benefits.” So start your holiday marketing campaign now, personalize your message on what you can offer to your consumers.
2 – Expect scarcity due to supply-chain challenges.
Last year’s COVID-19 pandemic caused people to disrupt shopping behaviors. According to Google, 47% of consumers in the U.S. say they expect COVID-19 to impact how they shop during the holiday season. And this is precisely what’s happening, as there have been supply-chain challenges causing delivery delays. And with this issue, consumers are more open than ever to trying new brands to get what they need.
People are turning to Google Search to help them find the perfect retailer to deliver their gifting needs. The first thing they are looking for is product availability. So it is recommended to use features like local inventory ads and shipping annotations. You can highlight the products you have in stock and how quickly people can expect their delivery.
3 – Local SEO becomes more important than ever.
Another shopping behavior that has changed during the pandemic is that consumers are more conscious about buying from. And as the pandemic affected primarily local businesses, campaigns such as buy local have been trending online. This led a lot of online consumers to support local companies. In fact, 60% of U.S. consumers who plan to do holiday shopping get their gifts at small local businesses. With that said, this is the ideal time to push your local SEO campaign and improve your local SEO as fast as possible.
To work in your local SEO, you can use free tools like Google Business Profile (formerly known as Google My Business). Business Profile will allow you to market your business to local shoppers and provide search users with up-to-date information about your business. This information includes business hours, in-store products and services, and the company’s safety measures.
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