The festive season is a time of joy, togetherness, and
giving. It’s also a critical period for brands to connect with consumers in
meaningful ways, and promote their products to ensure market share. At TLC
Worldwide, we understand the nuances of consumer behaviour and desires around
the holiday season, and we harness this knowledge to create impactful
Christmas, Black Friday and New Year rewards promotions. Based on our
comprehensive consumer behaviour survey, we’ve identified key trends and
insights that should lead your festive promotion strategy.
Understanding Consumer Behaviour During the Festive
Season
Our survey of 180 consumers, conducted in January 2024,
reveals valuable insights into how consumers approach holiday spending,
gift-giving, and the types of rewards that resonate most with them. Here, we
present some of the standout findings:
Spending Trends:
Stable or Increased Spending:
Despite economic
fluctuations of recent years, including the ongoing cost-of-living crisis, 40%
of respondents actually reported spending the same amount as previous years,
with 42% spending more than £300 on presents in 2023, and the majority not
struggling to buy gifts last year.
Deal-Seeking Behaviour:
A significant 77% of
consumers looked for deals or sales when purchasing gifts, highlighting the
importance of timely promotions. This tells us that while spending levels
remain, people are looking to get more value out of less.
Purchase points:
Many consumers are purchasing gifts
later in the year – from October to December – in order to take advantage of
promotions and sales. As most brands activate deals the closer we get to the
big days, customers are waiting to buy.
Gift Preferences:
Top Gifts
Clothing, beauty products, and food &
drinks were the most popular gift categories among our respondents in 2023.
Least Popular Gifts
Household goods and DIY products ranked lower, indicating
a shift towards more personal and immediately enjoyable gifts.
Looking Ahead…
Asking our audience about Christmas 2024, we discovered
their budget plans and the gifts they’re looking to prioritise.
Budgeting and Saving
·
Over half (54%) of
respondents plan to budget and spread out gift purchases from October to
December, with 47% taking advantage of Black Friday sales.24% plan to cut back
on the amount of people they purchase for.
·
The majority of consumers
are planning efforts to save money (78%).
Choosing Gifts
·
Essential Gifts: Consumers are increasingly focused on giving essential items, with a notable
55% indicating this trend. These gifts include clothing, health and beauty
products and food and drink products.
·
Unpopular Gifts: On
the other hand, the least popular planned gift categories for 2024, similarly
to 2023’s habits are household goods, DIY products and sports products.
·
Desired Gifts: When
asked which gifts categories our respondents would most like to receive, the
gifts that came out on top were vouchers, money and cosmetics.
·
Undesirable Gifts: Alternatively,
the gifts people wanted the least were decorations, furniture and consumer
electronics.
Festive Promotion Strategies
So, how can brands use rewards to encourage purchase of
their products at this critical retail period? We asked our respondents which
festive rewards would most appeal to them.
·
Most popular rewards: The
most desirable rewards for this period were days out, eating out and
entertainment (movie tickets, theatre, music events etc.).
·
Least popular rewards: The
rewards which scored the lowest for this period were gym subscriptions and streaming
services.
·
Key reward insight: Experiential
rewards that can be enjoyed with friends and family take priority.
Based on these insights, TLC Worldwide’s rewards programmes
can help your brand stand out during the chaotic festival season.
The Benefits of TLC Worldwide’s Festive
Promotions
Leveraging year-on-year insights, TLC Worldwide crafts
bespoke rewards promotions that align with consumer preferences and behaviours,
offering several benefits to brands.
Enhanced Customer Engagement
Timely Offers: By activating deals and promotions closer to
Christmas, we tap into the peak shopping period, driving higher engagement and
conversion rates.
Example: The Gym Group – Christmas Lucky Lockers
We created a festive promotion for The Gym Group: a
Christmas themed Lucky Locker game, incentivising gym-goers to visit more
frequently during the winter months. This type of rewarding helped to increase
membership rates, reduce churn and resulted in high engagement with email
communications.
The Christmas-themed element added excitement around the
season, while an everyone-wins approach led to high customer satisfaction.
Increased Brand Loyalty
Offering rewards at cultural moments throughout the year can
help to increase brand loyalty, and re-engage customers. See our blog,
Celebrating Milestones with your Customers for more on this.
Example: Nordic Spirit – Christmas Treats
As part of our ongoing loyalty programme with Nordic Spirit,
we created a Christmas themed promotion in which members received holiday
treats like branded chocolate bars, serving as a great touchpoint to re-engage
members.
Experience-Led Rewards
With a focus on experiences
over material goods, such as dining out and entertainment, our promotions
foster emotional connections and lasting memories, enhancing brand loyalty.
Example: Burger King x HBO – Christmas At Home
Bringing together two iconic brands, Burger King offered
their customers a 2-months free HBO streaming subscription when spending €8,50+
on delivery, enabling customers to enjoy a delicious meal whilst watching their
favourite Christmas movie.
Driving Sales and Revenue
Our data-driven approach ensures that promotions are not
only appealing but also strategically timed to maximise sales. Using a key
sales period like Christmas and standing out with emotional, value-led
promotions helps market penetration.
Example: GU – Strike Gold
Traditionally at Christmas time, the competition for dessert
products is tough. To pull GU ahead of its competitors, we created a gold-value
promotional campaign. With special
gold-plated prizes on offer, we saw a significant rise in sales (compared with
previous years).
Boosting Average Order Value
With enticing rewards, customers are more likely to increase
their spending to qualify for promotions, driving up the AOV (average order
value). Rewards should be used here in conjunction with a minimum order
quantity.
Example: Birds Eye x Hasbro
This campaign delivers
fun and imagination together with nutritious convenient food, through two
household name brands. This deal requires the purchase of four or more items
therefore incentivising higher order value. A reward like this (a family game)
would be ideal for the holiday season. Find out more about the campaign here.
Showcasing Our Expertise
At TLC, our expertise in consumer behaviour and holiday
trends enables us to create effective and engaging festive
promotions. Our comprehensive survey provides a deeper understanding of what
consumers want during the festive season, allowing us to tailor our strategies
to meet these desires.
Download our latest e-book for a full visualisation and more
detail on our consumer survey. Take an in-depth look at our findings and how
they can be leveraged to enhance your brand’s holiday promotions. Download it
now to discover more about our approach and how we can help you connect with
consumers this Christmas.
Key Takeaway
The holiday season presents a unique opportunity for brands
to connect with consumers on an emotional level. By understanding consumer
behaviour and preferences, TLC Worldwide’s Christmas rewards promotions not
only enhance the festive experience for consumers but also drive engagement,
loyalty, and sales for brands.
Contact us today to learn more about how our tailored
promotions can benefit your brand this holiday season.
