By Julie Vu, associate director, client services at Nexxen
The retail calendar has undergone a shift in recent years. While peak shopping periods have always been somewhat predictable, data now allows us to pinpoint customer movements with far greater accuracy, leading to compelling, new insights.
We already know, for instance, that engagement with online retail brands in Australia rapidly increases around late October. Black Friday still serves as a major event, followed closely by Christmas and Boxing Day. And our own recent insights confirmed this trend, showing a noticeable rise in online traffic as early as the beginning of October.
To that end, the trend of promotions appearing earlier during the busiest shopping periods – often called “season creep” – has become increasingly common. Retailers are launching campaigns ahead of traditional timelines to stay competitive, and Australia’s online retail sector has fully embraced this shift to keep up with the fast-moving marketplace. (Anecdotally, my local supermarket was already stocked full of Easter chocolate by mid-February!)
Julie Vu, associate director, client services at Nexxen
Our recent retail playbook also indicates that online retail spending generally starts to trend up in June. And, like the Black Friday surge, we think this is largely driven by online promotions and sales events.
In fact, from April to October, online shoppers showed greater interest in product categories like home furniture, appliances and fashion. And it’s not difficult to understand why. A combination of the winter months, which often necessitate a wardrobe update and a bit more time spent indoors, paired with the end of the financial year and mid-year sales have influence here.
Not only does modern infrastructure enable retailers to roll out promotions more quickly and flexibly than ever before, but consumer behaviour has also adapted; many Australians now expect deals well before peak seasons. This has likely also been spurred by global e-commerce giants doing big seasonal sales and inspiring local retailers to be forthcoming with their own discount events.
The rise of “buy now, pay later” services, like Afterpay, has also driven longer sales periods, as shoppers feel more comfortable spending earlier with flexible payment options. We observed in last year’s fourth quarter that sales promotions for these services, such as Afterpay Day, significantly boosted consumer engagement.
Of course, there are pros and cons that come with these evolving seasonal shopping trends. While elongated sales cycles expose retailers to more potential sales associated with a holiday, season or event, some consumers may start to experience deal fatigue if they feel like every month brings a new national sales event.
It’s important for marketers and advertisers to recognise the big seasonal periods throughout the year and prepare accordingly, but equally critical that they understand their customers and what they value, what their spending habits might look like.