The festive season is here, and holiday shopping has begun; however, inflation and uncertainty about a possible recession are expected to have an impact on the market, with many shoppers planning to shop earlier and reduce their overall holiday spending. Shopping around for deals is also more common now, so creating enticing offers, packages, and discounts, if you're able, can help you stand out from the crowd.
Studies have shown that discount pricing strategies are a tried and true way of enticing consumers to purchase different products and services. Shopify's Future of Commerce report, released earlier this year, found that 52% of consumers are influenced to purchase when they’re offered personalized discounts.
Tourism Kelowna offers various avenues for its members to feature offers, packages, and discounts, such as the Packages & Promotions page on our website and our mobile passport programs. Different offers can help increase average order spend, engage first-time buyers, and drive direct traffic to your business.
Here are three tips to consider when putting together this year's Christmas packages and promotions:
1. Know Your Audience
One of the key elements for a successful package or promotion is knowing the offer's target market. Is this going to be available to anybody who visits Kelowna? Or simply to residents? Or maybe only those who are visiting for business reasons? The same offer or package is not going to resonate with every segment of consumer, so you'll want to modify what's included to appeal to your various target markets.
One way to find out what your customers want is to conduct some market research. This doesn't have to be an onerous or costly process. Reach out to some of your repeat customers. Run a poll on social media to find out what type of added-value experiences or offerings might entice your audience to book or buy. The better you know your current and prospective customers, the better you'll be able to target your offers to what they want.
2. Stand Out From the Crowd
The more exciting, enticing, or exclusive the offer, the more exposure it will get, which can lead to improved results. Check out what others in your sector are offering to look for ways you can stand out. Look for current offers from complementary products or services and consider how you might be able to collaborate with another local business to create an even more exciting offering.
Remember, enticing doesn't always have to mean a larger discount—adding unique and exclusive experiences can have a significant impact. Depending on your audience, and what you wish to achieve, there are different ways to garner consumers' attention. Perhaps your offer is only available for the first 50 customers, or it's an exclusive behind-the-scenes experience that has limited capacity. Or, maybe it's an add-on with purchase (everyone loves a freebie!). Make sure the experiences you want to include in your offers are special and not simply an offering you have all the time.
3. Establish Goals and Track Success
Another important consideration that will help you put together a successful Christmas promotion is understanding your goals and what you hope to achieve. If you have a physical product that you sell online, for example, perhaps you want to decrease your shopping cart abandonment rate—Shopify notes that discounts can encourage customers to click the 'buy now' button.
What other goals might you be looking to achieve? Do you want to acquire new customers? Increase overall sales? Earn repeat customers? Move inventory you haven't sold? These will be specific to your business, so you want to be really clear about the outcome you're looking for so you can build your offer to achieve your goals. You can build offers and packages into your overall strategy so that it's not just giving out a discount, but helping you reach the overall goals for your business.
Once you've wrapped up your promotion, you can measure its success in achieving your goals—if you missed the mark, take some time to consider what was missing and then look for ways to tailor future promotions to better connect with your customers. Without taking the time to evaluate the success of your offers, you may repeat mistakes or miss out on sales or bookings in future promotions.
Creating remarkable experiences or unique offers that appeal to your customers will help you achieve your goals, stand out from the crowd, create repeat customers, and take advantage of word-of-mouth when your satisfied customers recommend you to others.
For questions about promoting your packages and promotions or about our passport programs, connect with me at sara@tourismkelowna.com or at (250) 861-1515 ext. 218.
