Although you may not have your Christmas decorations up yet, a focus on the festive period has already begun for digital marketers. Here at Mediaworks, our Christmas countdown consists of brewing hot chocolates, creative meetings to reflect on last year’s trends and at least one person trying to add Fairytale of New York to the office playlist — getting festive ready can be a challenge.

As the colder months draw in, retail businesses must look back to 2017 and analyse the behaviour of their customers to capitalise on their shopping habits this Christmas. We discovered that 53% of shoppers last year said that they started buying gifts in October and November. Interestingly, one in ten actually started before July — meaning that marketers must be prepared in advance.

Retailers found that sales increased by 1.4% in 2017 in comparison to 2016, with online companies experiencing the best results overall. The death of the high street has shown that almost two thirds of shoppers are now purchasing presents online, with many using mobile to do so. This poses the question, should businesses be shifting their efforts online?

As companies begin creating and launching their Christmas campaigns, it’s crucial that you come up with a strategy that allows you to stand out from the crowd. We’ve got the lowdown on how to achieve just that:

Mobile Friendly Site

Having a mobile friendly website has never been more important for retail businesses. To ensure greater conversions online, it’s essential to have a fully-responsive platform that can cater to all requirements. When problems are discovered on the site — such as faulty checkouts — they must be rectified as quickly as possible, as shoppers won’t give your brand a second chance.

Google Shopping

You need to strike a balance between organic and paid traffic to your website during the Christmas period. Google Shopping ads can be the perfect solution for both desktop and mobile users. As they can instantly present people with visuals of products they intend to buy, the brand name and the price — additional features can include product ratings. Not only will this entice consumers to buy when they’re on-the-go, it will also position your company at the top of any relevant search results.

Christmas Content

Consumers love feel-good content, especially during the Christmas period. You should use this to your advantage. Look at creating articles that have the ability to inspire a shopper to make a purchase. This should vary between onsite optimisation, blog posts and outreach assets that will have both SEO and brand exposure benefits. To make sure that your creative copy hits the right audience, make sure you spread the message socially too — think email and social media marketing.

These are only the first steps to dominating digital during the festive period. If you’d like to find out more, contact our team today by filling out the form below or download our Consumers at Christmas: The Digital Forecast 2018 whitepaper online today.