Holiday shopping is getting underway, while it is no secret, most shoppers take a mobile first approach to their initial browsing and even purchasing. Some shoppers are planners, while others take a more impulsive approach to their gift giving. Mobile shopping can be a beautiful thing, but deadline dates for Christmas delivery can come at a heavy price point to shoppers (listed below from shippo.com).

Holiday 2018 Shipping Cutoff Dates

As Holiday shoppers scramble to find those perfect gifts, there are ways to get their sleighs dashing through the snow and to your store, well before the shipping date panic sets in.

Bazaarvoice conducted an online survey of 2,500 U.S. consumers to understand their holiday shopping plans, preferences, and habits. Learning what makes shoppers tick allows you to plan your holiday ad campaigns, while also focusing on how to pivot your in store efforts to increase foot traffic and the overall holiday shopping experience.

When it comes to your advertising efforts this holiday season, consider enticing more customers in store with these strategies:

  • Create Holiday Ambiance – shoppers visit stores for this reason alone. Shopping with friends and family, along with in store Holiday experiences, are part of in store shopping appeal. Photos with Santa, festive music, and ice skating, all bring customers in and keep them there.
  • Combat Checkout Chaos – arm cashiers with tablets and mobile devices to make check out quick and easy. Chances are, your customers will tell their friends and family how seamless their in store experience was, driving more foot traffic.
  • Wrangle those Online Shoppers – get them on site by offering in store pick up options for online purchases, or run promotions with customized ads to local stores including maps, addresses, and directions.
  • Exclusive Sales – According to Bazarrvoice’s Holiday study, 75% of shoppers choose in store shopping because they can evaluate products in person. Additionally, 51% of shoppers keep gifts intended for someone else. Use this info to leverage “BOGO”-style in store only sales, where your customers can test the products for themselves (literally!).
  • Think Experiential – while shopping in stores dripping with garland and smelling of balsam fir creates the perfect gift giving mood, experiences can (and should) continue into gifting format. 90% of people plan to give physical gifts for the holidays but meaningful experiences are rapidly growing in the gifting market, especially amongst millennials. In fact, 46% of millennials plan on gifting experiences like travel packages, cooking classes, sip and paint events and more this Holiday season.