If the research is right, retailers should anticipate this holiday season to start earlier and be bigger than the last. In fact, Deloitte’s annual holiday retail forecast predicts holiday sales will increase by 4-6% this year – with 70% of consumers starting shopping before Thanksgiving.
As a critical time for retailers, many brands are exploring new models and technologies to both reach new customers, and harness a whole new level of engagement with existing ones. From Virtual Parties and introducing digital assets into their retail mix, to metaverse type AR Experiences and events, we explore what brands are considering this holiday season.
Virtual Pop-Up stores: The concept of a pop up store isn’t new, however the trend of expanding to virtual pop up stores is relatively recent. Retailers create experiences in their metaverse for a select period of time to sell exclusive goods, allowing brands to generate more revenue and reach new customers. From Salvatore Farragamo to Tommy Hilfiger, multiple fashion companies have already created and tested virtual stores, and we don’t see this trend slowing down, especially for the holidays.
Exclusive Holiday NFT’s: Brands like Burberry, Kiehl’s and Nike have already experimented with introducing these digital assets into their marketing strategies. Nike, for example, made NFT sneakers available, which sold out very quickly after release. As an interesting way for brands to increase both revenue and loyalty, we can expect that brands will start selling exclusive NFT’s for the holiday season.
AR Experiences: Not only will AR technology play a part in enhancing the online/mobile shopping experience, brands can also use this to drive foot traffic to stores. Another problem AR solves – decreasing the return rate. Post-holiday return levels from e-commerce sales can hit as high as 35% (compared with 20% year around). By being able to see, experience and feel products using AR technology, consumers can make better informed choices, reducing post purchase dissatisfaction. An additional benefit over the holidays: introducing both fun, and shareability into the mix.
If you’re interested in exploring innovative ways to reach your customers, talk to us. We can help with new ideas, or flawless execution on bringing your big idea to life.
We’ve been designing and implementing scalable, customer-driven digital transformation strategies and experiences for Fortune 500 clients for over 18 years.
