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Pattern performance marketing department director Colin Boucher details how retailers can make the most of the festive trading period. 

The year’s peak trading period is already here and it’s important that your paid digital advertising is well optimised and you are ready to take advantage of the opportunity that the next few months presents.

Competition will be fierce and it’s therefore vital that you are setting yourself up for success.

Our performance marketing department director, Colin Boucher has pulled together five key tips to help you get ready for the busiest of busy periods and stay ahead of the competition.

1. Start now

Consumers are increasingly concerned on delivery times and retailers having the products they want in stock.

This has been exacerbated by the coverage of these issues in the media and Australia Post pausing collections in some states to catch up with the increasing demand on their network.

We are shopping earlier for Christmas than ever before and this means waiting until mid-November to ramp up your activity is leaving it too late. Start increasing spend now to make sure you capture those early shoppers.

October has already seen significant increases in traffic YoY across our client set as consumers shop early ahead of the Christmas period.

2. Customers expect promotions

Online shoppers expect big discounts when it gets to key events such as Cyber Weekend, so don’t disappoint.

With numerous key shopping events in a relatively short time frame (Singles Day, Click Frenzy and Cyber Weekend), the bargain hunters will be out in force.

Many brands will be going hard on their discounting and brands that are less discount driven may find it harder to drive sales.

Many brands are going early with their Cyber promotions, don’t wait until Black Friday as you will have already missed out by then, consider launching promotions on the Wednesday or Thursday of Cyber Week.

Make sure all promotions are clearly emphasised in copy and stand out from the competition.

3. Paid Search is key

Paid search activity via Google Ads will be one of your main revenue driving channels from now until December.

It is important to make sure you have budgets to support the increased search volume, your Google Shopping campaigns are working well, your ad copy is optimised and you can capture that gifting audience via relevant keywords and ad copy.

It is not too late to review your account and make changes to drive success over the next few months.

It cannot be emphasised enough to make sure that your product feeds for Google Shopping are error free and you are utilising your first party data to aid targeting across Google (and Facebook).

In November 2020, we saw 24% of Australian Ecommerce Traffic coming in from Performance Marketing according to our Ecommerce Benchmark report, however with the increase in online shopping, we’re seeing this figure increasing and in September 2021, SEM represented 26% of Traffic and 23% of total revenue.

You can download the September 2021 Ecommerce Benchmarking Report here. Subscribe to our mailing list if you’d like to receive monthly updates on ecommerce performance in Australia at pattern.com/au.

4. Post shipping cut off

Once shipping has finished for Christmas, there will be a rush on digital gift cards for those last minute shoppers.

The popularity of online gift cards has risen considerably during COVID-19 and it is a great way to keep that revenue flowing.

Utilise channels such as social to push online gift cards and make sure copy is tweaked to emphasise this.

5. Online to offline

As stores re open across NSW and Victoria, it is possible to support them via paid advertising.

A brand can run advertising on Google and Facebook to drive customers to their nearest store. While online shopping will be crucial, some customers will want to go to stores too, so make sure they can find you both online and offline.

It’s also important to make sure that information on your stores is up to date, including opening hours and information regarding how your stores are adhering to COVID-19 laws.

Overall, it’s going to be a very busy period and there is huge potential to drive a large amount of revenue for your brand.

It’s important to get ready and start driving that traffic now, don’t delay and miss out on the opportunity.

Pattern supports brands and retailers in eCommerce strategy, trading, digital marketing and marketplace acceleration. If you would like to discuss your Performance Marketing strategy, reach out at au@pattern.com.

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