Three Ways To Connect With Millennial Shoppers This Silly Season

Christmas is upon us, but thankfully in this guest post, Pressy Sankaran, ANZ Commercial Director of performance marketing company Criteo, has the top tips to engaging a younger audience in the busiest time of year.

The silly season is fast approaching, and retailers and marketers around the world are preparing for the seasonal shopping madness. With millennials comprising 20 per cent of Australia’s population, they provide a huge revenue opportunity for the retail sector over the Christmas period.

With that in mind, it’s important for retailers to have an understanding of millennials’ purchasing behaviour.

Digital marketers must have their strategies in place well ahead of the Christmas rush, as millennials are very much at the forefront of ecommerce and like to get in early. Here are a few things to consider in order to target millennials this season:

Have your mobile strategy sorted

This is so important when it comes to connecting with millennials as they are the biggest users of smartphones and apps. Last year in Australia, mobile took 26 per cent of the share of purchases during the peak Christmas season.

Brands that don’t have a mobile site risk missing out on a significant amount of revenue and will struggle to target millennials effectively during the busiest time of year in retail.

This season, retailers should focus on truly optimising their mobile sites to create a seamless, easy-to-use shopping experience. It’s important also to ensure that the path to purchase is linear from search to payment, or risk losing potential customers along the way.

There’s no doubt that millennials are always on their phones, so go mobile or miss out.

Start getting everything prepared early

Increasingly, people are opting to get their Christmas shopping done as early as possible. In Australia last year, one of the busiest week for purchases was the last week of November with sales increasing by 192 per cent. Retailers shouldn’t be waiting until December to have their strategies in place for the holiday season.

One way to prepare for the crazy influx is to ensure that social sites are promoting the brand effectively and are clearly showing off a range of things that can be purchased. Criteo research found that in Australia, 32 per cent of buyers browse retailer’s’ website via social sites before making a final purchase.

Having a social strategy firmly in place will place you ahead of competitors — it’s never too early to start engaging with millennials!

Provide options

Millennials like having options, and it’s no different when it comes to paying for a purchase. With the rise of such things like Apple Pay and PayPal, retailers should be providing customers with a myriad of payment options across each platform.

These types of payment options have a big usership amongst millennials so it’s important that retailers don’t count them out. For those planning on capitalising on millennial spending this holiday season, enabling multiple payment methods will be key to attract these young customers.

Marketing to millennials may take some adjusting for most businesses, but considering the foothold they have within the ecommerce industry it’s important that retailers get on board in order to make the most out of the busy Christmas season.

Investing in a streamlined mobile site, having a strong social media strategy that showcases a brand, and providing multiple payment options will all help retailers to engage with millennials this Christmas.

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Have your mobile strategy sorted

Start getting everything prepared early

Provide options

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