Predictions for this year’s holiday shopping run the gamut from predicting a surge to something more Grinch-like.
In other words? No one knows.
But one thing we do know is this: Sales this year have been pretty lumpy. It’s been a start-stop, with national holidays like Memorial Day and Labor Day bringing the upswing and non-sale stretches swinging back down. So even though we don’t know exactly what power this holiday season will bring, we have seen major sale periods come through strong throughout the year.
Most of us tend to equate Q4’s shopping frenzy with the “Cyber 5”—Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday—as the window of opportunity during this quarter. But it’s important to remember that there’s more to the season than just that five-day span.
Beyond the Cyber 5, retailers are planning their own events to capitalize on holiday and year-end momentum, creating plentiful options for brands to consider participating in. And for those events you do participate in, it’s critical to be dialed in on everything from advertising to operations to take full advantage of the heightened demand from online shoppers.
It’s not too late to make sure your brand is closing the year out strong. Let’s walk through a few ideas for how brands should approach their promotional strategy for the rest of Q4.
Think Beyond Your Brand-Wide Promotions
You likely set your brand-wide promotional schedule long ago to coincide with the week of U.S. Thanksgiving and extend into the following week. It’s worth revisiting that plan to ensure it’s as competitive as possible, but you’ll also want to make sure you’ve considered all of the opportunities to get your brand in front of customers via retailer promotions.
Retailers all have multiple major sales this quarter, from their semi-annual events to end-of-year clearances to private promotions. Opting into as many as you can—especially for your key partners—will only increase your exposure to the end customer and create more potential for sales.
Make sure you know what your key retail partners have planned for this quarter and find out how you can be a part of it. You certainly don’t need to be on sale for the whole quarter, but you must look at key periods outside of the Cyber 5 or you’ll miss out on meaningful opportunities.
Consider the Ripple Effect of Q4 Promotional Participation
Promotions aren’t just about offering a discount (though obviously, that is a big part of it). They also equal exposure, and that can impact your brand’s visibility to the shopper well beyond the dates of the sale.
Participating in promotions lets your brand piggyback on a retailer’s marketing, getting your brand and products in front of the end customer more often. That discovery can lead to sales down the line, even after the event is long over. This promotional halo effect can carry your brand’s sales nicely into the first quarter—at full price!
Maintain Flexibility During Q4
Since expectations for Q4 are fuzzy, manufacturers and retailers alike should be prepared for things to change quickly. Staying competitive means being able to make a quick pivot if needed—like participating in a retailer’s last-minute promotion.
Manufacturers can stay nimble by knowing promotional parameters upfront, such as how big of a discount you can offer and for how long. By doing that math beforehand, you’ll be able to respond quickly to retailer’s requests that come in at the 11th hour—something your competitors may not be able to do.
Adapt Your Promotion Offering as Needed
All of this doesn’t mean putting your entire brand on sale non-stop through the end of the year. Consider curating selections for different events, like a single product category, new releases or just bestsellers. Flexing the assortments offered between retailers could help diversify what gets in front of the end customer and help protect your stock status or overall margin if needed.
Consider Turning Up Investments Outside of Just Promotions
Advertising around the Thanksgiving-Cyber Monday weekend is going to be especially competitive, so brands with a limited budget might consider looking at where else they can invest to get more exposure while the shopping season is still hot. Elevating certain assortments, your brand or certain products will still be impactful as the shopping season is in full swing.
Retailers like Amazon, Wayfair, Home Depot, Lowe’s and Bed Bath & Beyond (Overstock) all have pay-to-play opportunities to get more eyeballs on your products or brand page. This quarter might also be an opportunity to invest more heavily in things like Wayfair’s CastleGate or Amazon’s FBA to get product to the customer faster.
Be Prepared to Deliver on Customer Experience
The fourth quarter is go-time, and any snags in the process between your brand, your retail partners and the end customer will only hinder its potential. If you haven’t already, take time to make sure your operations are in order in areas like:
- Training customer service or other teams to prepare for increased calls and questions
- Ensuring your order entry team knows all of the agreed-upon discount programs with retailers to keep order processing running smoothly
- Evaluating lead times and making any changes before the season is underway
- Auditing your inventory feed for accuracy, especially for stock and lead time messaging
If items don’t ship within a customer’s expected timeframe, manufacturers run the risk of order cancellations. You’ll also want to have the staff to support an increase in orders, which might include adding a weekend shift or other ways to ensure orders leave the warehouse in the indicated window.
Stock, Stock, Stock
We say often that being out of stock is poison to an ecommerce business. In Q4, it’s especially potent.
Don’t let an inventory outage—especially on your bestsellers—thwart your success. Make sure your stock is aligned will all of the promotions you’re participating in. The last thing you want to do is bow out of a promotion early or have your product taken offline because stock becomes unavailable.
Not only does running out of stock hurt sales during a promotional event, it can also take a long time to ramp back up after an outage to regain positioning, in retailer’s algorithms.
As you think about the rest of 2023, make sure your brand is taking advantage of the full season; pull every lever you can while retailers are driving the most amount of traffic to their sites for the year. Sure, the Cyber 5 will likely blow other weeks out of the water when it comes to sales (and we hope it does!). But there is additional marketing power through the quarter that you’ll want to consider in order to close out the year as strongly as possible.
Even in an unpredictable year, customers will be shopping in Q4. Find every hidden opportunity to reach them.
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