Consumers might still be enjoying their summer vacations, but for marketers, the holiday season has already begun. Experts predict that Americans will start shopping for gifts and getting into a festive mood soon, and retail giants like Amazon have already set firm early fall deadlines for sellers to get their Christmas stock in.
The best way to optimize your marketing campaigns and get consumers’ attention amidst all the competition is to have the right data on holiday shoppers in the first place. This particularly applies to Gen Z, many of whom are new consumers that brands don’t have a lot of data on. Below, we’ll discuss four trends we expect to see this holiday season—based on insights from our AI-powered data engine, rAI, and continuously updated customer study.
4 Trends to Expect in the 2024 Holiday Season
Personalized social media ads are a must.
You’ve heard it over and over again: Customers are looking for personalization. This is especially true of Gen Z, who wants to feel connected to the brands it patronizes. But a desire to see customized ads isn’t just limited to them: We found that people who shop specifically on Black Friday and Cyber Monday use Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat for shopping inspiration. Based on their interests and interactions, they appreciate personalized advertising on these and other social media platforms.
Value-driven shopping will continue.
Consumers, increasingly squeezed by higher prices, have changed their spending habits over the last year. In our recent Fall 2024 Consumer Trends Report, we found that Americans are extremely concerned about price; in fact, the number of people who say they’ve cut out all non-essential purchases due to price considerations rose over 3% in the last few months. These concerns have translated into an unwillingness to spend more. Furthermore, it’s crucial not to remember that in an election year, consumer spending tends to drop as economic anxieties heighten and while the reins change hands. To stand out and increase customer retention, many brands have started offering deals and discounts—and Resonate data backs up the now widely accepted theory that this will continue to be the right path through the 2024 holiday season. We found that even gift givers who intend to spend a lot are planning to be budget-conscious and use coupons.
Making returns easy is a great way to stand out.
Our data shows that one major thing customers are looking for is easy returns. Millennials and Gen Zers who shop at department stores indicated a convenient return policy is extremely important to them when considering where to make purchases. Additionally, a significant 31% of this year’s Christmas and Winter Shoppers look for retailers who make returning unwanted items simple. With so many different groups sharing the same preference, it’s clear that marketers should emphasize the ease of making returns in their messaging—and that if you know your return policy isn’t simple, this might be an area to improve before holiday shopping really swings into high gear.
Being early is crucial this year.
This is the shortest holiday shopping season we’ve seen in a while; there are just 27 days between Thanksgiving and Christmas, which hasn’t happened since 2019. To ensure they still reach their goals, marketers should begin campaigns early. And to make sure your brand remains top of mind as we move into the holiday season, it’s also crucial to get messaging right. Enhancing your first-party data, using AI-powered segmentation tools to better identify target audiences, and building custom audiences are three time-tested methods for better understanding consumers and targeting them with the right marketing.
Resonate offers off-the-shelf Holiday Shopper Segments that are ready for immediate activation, right in time for the short 2024 holiday season. You can also build custom audiences with Resonate leveraging our 15,000+ attributes and distribute them to your activation platform. Holiday success starts with partnering with Resonate. Schedule a demo today!
