Christmas presence
As Christmas shopping begins, and the cost-of-living crisis looms, retailers must do everything they can to engage customers.
Half of UK consumers plan to spend less on Christmas this year according to new data from Kantar. More than a third (37%) of those surveyed also said they were struggling with their financial situations, which means that retailers will need to work harder than ever to attract customers if they want to avoid relying on discounting.
We look at three ways retailers can gain an advantage over their competitors:
The immersive
Consumers always enjoy a memorable retail experience, and Christmas is the time of year when retailers get to demonstrate their creativity and drive footfall and customer engagement.
Mugler have created a multi-sensory perfume pop-up at Selfridges, London this Christmas. The pop-up blends fashion and fragrance and is made up of giant fragments of a woman's body that break up the space into a variety of retail experiences. This immersive retail experience invites customers on a journey through the body which slowly reveals itself. The leg houses the fragrance collection, unfolding around a drop-like refill fountain that allows customers to have their perfume bottles refilled before exploring the torso which cocoons a selection of pieces and a fitting room.
Lego has created a football-themed pop-up in Paris. They teamed up with AMO to give visitors an immersive play experience across three vibrant zones. Multiple activities were held in the space as well as a LEGO Ideas Table Football tournament.
The phygital
Consumers now recognise the importance of both the physical and the digital world in retail, and retailers have begun to combine both and create immersive phygital retail experiences to engage consumers, improve footfall, and drive sales.
Presentedby, a streetwear sneaker brand in Riyadh have opened a new sensory experience store which combines technology and nature. The design team at External Reference have created a store that includes sculptures and virtual digital simulations, creating an immersive ambience throughout. A programmable water curtain separates the store from the outside world. Passing through the artificial waterfall, customers emerge into an area with a bespoke water printer at the core which turns digital images into physical ones made of falling water. The store also includes a mirrored corridor containing a VIP lounge.
Creating these memorable, immersive retail experiences, combined with understanding what consumers are conscious of this Christmas, will help to maximise customer engagement, improve footfall and drive overall store and brand performance.
The sustainable
eBay Ads’ annual Christmas Spend Trends report for 2022 revealed that four in 10 consumers want to be climate conscious when Christmas shopping this year, with one in 10 saying that buying eco-friendly products will be one of their biggest gift-shopping priorities. Almost a fifth (17%) will shop for second hand or refurbished items and 15% are committed to buying sustainable decorations.
This year Ikea did not participate in Black Friday but instead brought in its sustainable Green Friday initiative which includes its Buyback & Resell scheme where customers can sell back furniture to Ikea and get an additional 50% off new items when returning used Ikea furniture to a store.
Vestiaire, a leading global online marketplace for desirable pre-loved fashion, has curated an online platform of 23 million buyers and sellers, and rare inventory of 5 million items including 20,000 daily new-ins.
Research of 2,000 adults has found that 78% think it’s important to shop locally this festive season – and more than half (56%) of those surveyed are doing so to put money back into the local economy. Retailers need to think about how they can offer customers localised products and give back to the community.
The battle for hearts and minds has begun and with consumers more demanding than ever it will be interesting to see which retailers will succeed this Christmas.
Jemima Scott
