PayPal Encourages Aussies To ‘Shop Off The Beaten Path’ This Christmas

PayPal Australia’s campaign to to connect Aussies with thoughtful gift ideas this holiday season is back with a new interactive livestream featuring comedian and actor Matt Okine.

The ‘Shop Off The Beaten Path’ online portal, which will this year host hundreds of Australian retailers, will surface unique and bespoke ideas for gift-givers this festive season.

Shop Off The Beaten Path was inspired by the insight that Christmas shopping, with its high expectations, large crowds and demands on time, can lead to shopper fatigue and angst.

In response to this angst, many Australians resort to buying the same, predictable presents each year because they run out of time, inspiration or energy.

Research by PayPal surveying 1,000 Australians shows that three in five of us know what we want for Christmas, and we’re dropping more present hints than ever (60 per cent). However, 68 per cent of us don’t get the gifts we are hinting at.

Shop Off The Beaten Path aims to address this by helping Australian shoppers connect with local merchants offering a range of unique, bespoke and memorable gifts.

The portal connects shoppers with hundreds of unique Australian retailers based on specific criteria – for him, for her, for the kids, or for all.

With gift categories from bespoke to beautiful and active to trending, Shop Off The Beaten Path will help the time poor and less inspired Aussies find the perfect gift this Christmas.

PayPal's 'Shop Off The Beaten Path' portal

Retailers on the portal span design outlets such as Assembly Label to experience sites like Adrenaline.com.au.

This year sees the Shop Off The Beaten Path portal optimised with smarter search functionality ensuring it is easier to shop by theme and type of gift.

The portal has also been expanded, with a larger roster of businesses, including vendors that were popular last year and newbies that make the portal offering even richer.

And with 72 per cent of people shopping on their mobiles, according to the 2017 PayPal mCommerce Index, campaign has also been optimised primarily for mobile shopping.

Elaine Herlihy, marketing director at PayPal Australia, said: “This year, we have taken Shop Off The Beaten Path to the next level, making it bigger, better and, above all, injecting more emotion.

“We’re urging Aussies to ‘Be a Better Giver’ – encouraging them to remember why they are giving a gift in the first place.

“We are also using data and real insights to show how they can do this via our unique portal that connects them to great Aussie businesses to find a gift that’s really worth giving and receiving.”

The portal is also designed to help showcase and champion Australian merchants in an online environment, where 71 per cent of Aussies will be Christmas shopping this year, according to recent research conducted by PayPal about Australian shopping habits this holiday season.

“Our research shows us that merchants are struggling with the pressure of the Christmas period, with two in three citing that they feel stressed in the lead up to the festive period,” Herlihy said. The highest area of stress is around maximising revenue (31 per cent).

“We are committed to supporting businesses of all sizes this Christmas, and our dedicated portal gives businesses a chance to showcase their unique brand to Australian consumers and get their products under Australian Christmas trees this festive season.”

Live Selects with Matt Okine

This year, PayPal extended the campaign to include a more emotive call-to-action, encouraging us to ‘Be a Better Giver’ this Christmas.

As part of this, PayPal introduced a Facebook live stream called ‘Live Selects’ featuring Aussie comedian and actor Matt Okine.

Live Selects was broadcast on Sunday 3 December and featured Okine being challenged to complete his Christmas shopping in 60 minutes from local merchants at Bondi Markets, who will also feature on the Shop Off The Beaten Path portal.

PayPal's 'Shop Off The Beaten Path' portal

The live stream, which garnered 123,000 views directly on Facebook, and a further 100,000 views through a strategic Daily Mail partnership, amplified through a successful pre-stream ‘Get Facebook Reminder’ call to action, with 13,500 organic views.

Overall, this element of the campaign saw a view-through-rate of 46 per cent.

Data-driven approach

Using smart technology, coupled with creative media placements, the socially-led and solely-digital campaign is underpinned by a data-driven media strategy.

PayPal-owned customer data combined with the company’s advanced understanding of mobile purchasing habits have been used to ensure Shop Off The Beaten Path resonates with Australian shoppers and is tailored to consumer habits.

Tom McMullan, associate creative director at Isobar Australia, said: “It’s rare you get the chance to improve on an already successful campaign, so we’re stoked to be helping Australians Shop Off The Beaten Path again.

“Plus, with the updates we’ve made based on last year’s learnings, we think PayPal Australia is on track to have its best Christmas ever for the second year running.”

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