In today’s Tech News Tuesday episode, we’re talking about holiday shopping and how it might look a little different this year. With more people than ever shopping online, brands will need to bridge the divide between their online and offline experiences. So how can your business get ready for holiday shopping this year?
Links in this episode: Holiday Sales Are Starting Earlier Than Ever. Here’s Why.
Transcript
Welcome to the Get Digital Marketing Results podcast where we give you information and actionable tips to grow your organization.
Bob: Hi, I’m Bob Clark.
Donna: And I’m Donna Botti. We’re with Delos Inc and we make the web work for you. In today’s Tech News Tuesday, we’re talking about holiday shopping and how it might look a little different this year.
Bob: Why’s that Donna?
Donna: We know people are still concerned about the coronavirus.
Bob: That’s true.
Donna: I can’t picture like mad dashes of people rushing out and crowding the stores for Black Friday, can you?
Bob: No, not with all the COVID going on still. This is the reality we’re with right now for shopping.
Donna: Right and I think what we’re going to see is a much longer, more drawn-out shopping season.
Bob: Yeah.
Donna: I think Amazon is kicking things off early by holding their Prime Day October 13th and October 14, which usually they have it in July and they postponed that because of all the things with coronavirus. I think some other things that are going to make people a little bit more concerned are so much is happening with online and delivery. There’s been shipping delays on things.
Bob: Yeah, there has been a lot of delays in shipping.
Donna: You know, we had a couple packages that mysteriously disappeared for a long time before being shown up.
Bob: And a lot of that has to do with the sheer volume. If you look out on the roadways today, there’s just tons of UPS and Amazon trucks everywhere.
Donna: Well, again people have really shifted to online shopping, and this has been a trend for a few years. We’ve talked about this a number of times already. But, it’s really going to accelerate this year and I think the thing for businesses to think about is how are you letting people know what you have? Start advertising what you’re doing earlier than you have previously. Maybe you only started in the beginning of November, before. I think it’s time to start now getting people thinking about the holidays, but make sure they know what you have. Do you have curbside pickup? Do you, what kind of precautions you have in place in your store for shopping? Are you open for in-store shopping? Can I order online and just pick up? People are not just like browsing around and going to a bunch of different stores. They want to research and find out what they want, and then they want to go get it. I think local shopping is still happening, but people are looking for all the information before they go out. So how do you have that on your website? On your social media? Are you emailing your customers and letting them know what’s going on and what you have?
Bob: Yeah, there’s a lot of opportunities for shopping out there especially in social media. We’ve talked about this before about how you’re tagging and mentioning products in your social media and of course directing them to your website, which is a website that’s going to be easy for people to navigate and shop. So they could find you and find your products and purchase them with just a click and make it really simple.
Donna: Yeah, you know people like to save money and they’re looking for the good deal. So they’re always looking for that sort of thing. But, this year people are also looking for value-added services like curbside pickup, faster delivery. Again, everything you can do to get your information out there, is going to be really important. Most people are comfortable shopping in a store right now, but there is a fair percentage of people, I think they said there was 13% of people, who said they will not go out and shop at a store at all until there’s a COVID vaccine. Now those people are in the minority, and I think you know most people take precautions and they go out and they do it, but people are still avoiding crowds, so they may want to get out there now, and they should be able to know what you have and what you’re offering.
Bob: That’s it for today’s episode. You can find the link to the Street Fight Mag article, and a transcript of today’s podcast, at DelosInc.com/154. And don’t forget to subscribe, so you don’t miss out on our actionable digital marketing tips to grow your organization.
