Don't Bother Investing in Omnichannel This Holiday Season

If your current Q4 retail experience strategy includes excessive texting, emailing and direct-mailing customers with red and green branding (#omnichannel), you're out of touch with what the consumer really wants. There's only one way to increase sales this holiday season, and it's not what you think.

The definition of "holiday season" has shifted. With Single's Day (11.11) purchases in China rivaling those of Prime Day, consumers don't need a reason to shop, nor do they want one.

In 2014 a Pew Research Center study revealed that the thing people hate most about the holidays is shopping.

In fact, according to the National Retail Federation, the holidays aren't even the #1 shopping season in the US – back-to-college holds that honor.

What's the point of poking at the notorious consumerism of the holidays? To get your attention when I say: holiday retail should merely be an extension of year-round efforts to provide a seamless retail experience for customers.

November/December is not the time to launch a new omnichannel effort, too much can go wrong. However, with 86% of consumers still planning to do the thing that they dislike this holiday season (shopping), it is the perfect time to gather information on the friction your patrons are encountering in their journey and then develop a strategy to ease their pain.

We can wax poetic with stats about what omnichannel retail tactics are must-haves in a COVID-influenced 2021 holiday shopping season, but the reality is that your experience needs to be tailored to the needs of your target customers and the spirit of your brand.

Chances are, if you're reading this article, you're already aware of the trending tech that's going to be deployed this quarter. Instead of making an uninformed investment to keep up with the Joneses and risk not getting a return, take the increased volume (and friction) of the holiday season as an opportunity to talk to your new customers and see what they want from their 2022 shopping experiences.

Get customer feedback without burdening the customer.

Review live chat transcripts.
Listen to recorded customer service conversations.
Use website heat maps.
Utilize website analytics that shed light on consumer engagement between landing and your site and purchase.
Analyze the consumer purchase data you DO have access to.
Run social media polls.