The 2021 festive shopping season may seem a long way off for most people, but the marketing world is in full preparation mode for a dynamic and unpredictable peak retail period.
To ensure your brand is there to help customers with their purchasing decisions during this key trading period, our team has published a new 2021 retail playbook.
Think of this as your peak season cheat sheet. A 24-page guide to help you:
- Reach customers as they browse
- Engage customers as they research
- Convert customers looking to purchase
- Be ready to drive sales during the peak period
The 2020 shopping season was the biggest ever for digital spending, with $1.1 trillion (£717 billion) in global sales, up 50% from the previous year. It’s impossible to predict what revenue figures for 2021 will be — especially with the ongoing pandemic — but we know the trend towards online purchasing will continue to grow. In the U.K. alone, Euromonitor predicts the share of e-commerce sales will grow to 29% in 2025, up from 24% in 2020.1
“My research team has seen the shift towards digital shopping is here to stay,” says Debadeep Bandyopadhyay, a Google research analyst overseeing Search trends across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. “People aren’t just going online to buy. They are browsing. There’s sustained interest in online window shopping and searches for inspirational shopping ideas.”
With this changing landscape front of mind for retailers and brands, now is the time to plan ahead and ensure your digital capabilities are ready for the most important period in the 2021 retail calendar. Those who do so will be best placed to inspire customers and drive sales this peak season and beyond.
