Opinion: A holiday checklist for marketers to win over shoppers this year-end

The countdown is on. Holiday shopping is back with six in 10 shoppers across China, India, and Southeast Asia expected to spend more this holiday season.

COVID concerns have waned and the region’s consumers are feeling optimistic about the festivities ahead. But just because they’re gearing up to shop for their loved ones and have embraced the holiday spirit, it does not mean they’re indiscriminately filling their shopping carts. Revenge spending is passé. Concerns about inflation and economic uncertainty have tempered expectations, making shoppers more discerning and intentional with their purchases.

Shopping this year will be focused on connecting with consumers who want it all — a good bargain, convenience and entertainment within a seamless digital experience. Here are three ways to meet a changing audience in 2022, address what they’re looking for, and deliver value through integrated online and physical experiences this holiday season.

1. Be discoverable

Making your brand discoverable boils down to understanding where your audiences are and their consumer journey, so you know where to meet them. OOH ads, for example, deliver high impact by piquing consumers’ interest in your offerings for the season. DOOH builds on these advantages and can be seamlessly integrated into digital campaigns alongside other channels, all within a single DSP for easy planning, buying, optimisation, measurement and attribution.

Even as they return outdoors, consumers have held onto their digital-first habits for good, out and about with their digital devices in tow. DOOH pairs especially well with mobile to drive action. Research shows it triggers a high probability (52%) of consumer activity on mobile devices. Shoppers also can’t resist a great deal — looking for the best value and reading up on reviews online before making their purchases off the rack in stores.

Omnichannel is today’s reality — an indispensable approach to connect with shoppers, whatever channel or screen they are on and be discoverable everywhere when it matters. A channel mix such as DOOH, advanced TV (ATV), audio, mobile, and desktop creates multiple touchpoints to not only reach them at the right place and channel at the right time but also covers the entire consumer journey that pushes them along the funnel from awareness to consideration and conversion.

It will be important to ensure seamless brand experiences for consumers while maximising online and offline channels. While a majority of retail sales still happen in-store, holiday shoppers this season are slightly skewed towards online shopping at 82% versus physical shopping at 77%. It’s a slim margin that shows holiday shopping for consumers can happen anytime, anywhere — and it’s best to be prepared to meet your customers where they are and at the moment that matters to them.

2. Tailor your ads to capture attention

Audiences expect brands to deliver value that is relevant to them. Yahoo research shows 88% of people see the benefit of personalised ads. This season, brands should give consumers more of what they want – interactions that match their values and lifestyles, and feed their interests and passions.

This also means optimising ads within high-trust, immersive environments, such as trusted news sites, where consumers are more likely to scroll slower and pay more attention, as opposed to mindless social scrolling. Capitalising on immersive experiences such as AR/VR will also engage consumers looking for innovative and exciting interactions that further underscore the value of an offering.

Personalise your ads for the season by taking a data-driven approach to create unique, intuitive shopping experiences.

Formats also matter in capturing consumer attention. Our joint research with OMD Worldwide and Amplified Intelligence found that video is the top performer when it comes to active attention. Also, consider adopting native ads for premium experiences that blend into the page for seamless browsing that audiences love.

3. Go deep and wide without compromising trust and privacy

With shoppers eager to make holiday purchases, tap into this enthusiasm and leverage it through a loyalty programme that allows you to build long-term relationships and offer exclusive, members-only deals -- in a way that respects consumer privacy and choice.

Go deep and activate first-party data to boost loyalty marketing as you connect with consumers through owned channels, but don’t stop there. Work with trusted publishers and leverage their consent-driven first-party data to reach out to your existing consumers through their channels to increase top-of-mind-awareness.

Go wide and scale up with incremental audiences by partnering with trusted tech and data partners to expand your first-party data. Tools powered by machine learning can leverage your first-party data as a foundation to find lookalike audiences similar to existing customers. Additionally, first-party data from trusted partners can help identify new audience segments.

Cookie deprecation has also given rise to new contextual tools that go beyond content, leveraging real-time data signals such as weather, location, and device to find high-value audiences with resonant ads. All of these don’t require cookies and mobile app IDs to be effective.

This year’s holiday shoppers are eager but careful as they shop with intention. By reaching them through an omnichannel strategy, with captivating ad experiences, and thoughtful use of first-party data in a privacy-safe manner, your brand will have more means of capturing attention and winning over consumers this season.

The writer is Paul Sigaloff, VP, head of APAC at Yahoo.