Holiday Shopping Will Look Different This Year: Here’s What Local Businesses Need to Know

Vivial offers strategies to stand out during an unusual year

/EIN News/ -- DAYTON, Ohio, Oct. 22, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- There’s no denying that shopping for the holidays will look and feel a lot different this year. Financial burdens, shuttered stores and stay-at-home orders will change the way consumers shop for the gift-giving season. Vivial, a leader in local business digital marketing solutions, is offering a look the holiday shopping landscape along with tips for business owners to thrive during a time when business is anything but usual.

Holiday Shopping in the Time of COVID
Many Americans are hesitant to head out and shop brick-and-mortar stores, so online shopping will continue to increase this year. According to a Google survey, 75% of U.S. shoppers who plan to shop this season said they will shop online more this year than they did in past seasons.

When they do shop in store, they will shop local. According to the Google survey, 66% of shoppers said they will plan to shop more at local businesses. Regardless of where purchases are happening, shoppers are starting even earlier this year to avoid delayed and out-of-stock gifts. According to the National Retail Federation, this holiday season will be longer than last year with 74% of retailers surveyed agreeing that consumers are likely to spread out their holiday shopping over several months.

What does all of this mean for local businesses? “For businesses that haven’t already looked into eCommerce options or updated their websites to be responsive and mobile-friendly, time is off the essence,” said Laura Cole, VP of Marketing at Vivial. “Also critical for local businesses is a solid digital marketing strategy allowing them to be found online where and when consumers are searching for gifts.”

Marketing Tips for Local Business Owners
Cole offers the following advice to help local business owners ensure they have a plan to win this holiday season.

• Set up a Google My Business profile: Leverage Google My Business to help local business appear higher in Google Search. Using it also ensures customers can access information that’s accurate, like the business name, street address, hours of operation, safety measures, and website – all critical information when customers are looking to holiday shop.
• Create a marketing plan for every platform: Take advantage of various platforms to get enough traction to ensure the success of holiday campaigns. Online advertising, social media platforms, text messaging, and email marketing – all of these are viable options that can effectively enhance brand recall and awareness, capture the attention of current and potential customers, and drive consumer engagement.
• Be consistent with messaging: Holiday marketing content should have the same overall look, feel, and message. Not only does this avoid any confusing or conflicting information, but it helps build the business as reliable, trustworthy, and memorable.  Be sure to clearly communicate holiday promotions and sales along with shopping precautions such as touchless shopping and curbside pick-up.
  

Early and informed planning and decision making around marketing strategies will save businesses time and heartache this holiday season. For more expert advice on digital marketing, visit https://vivial.net.

About Vivial
Vivial is a digital marketing company that offers omni-channel solutions proven to connect brands of all sizes with potential customers, while engaging with current customers. Serving hundreds of thousands of local, national and enterprise customers through direct and indirect channels, Vivial helps businesses build, implement and optimize marketing programs to reach consumers quickly and effectively. Vivial works behind the scenes so that their clients can get back to running and growing their businesses successfully.

Vivial’s success is highlighted by recognitions such as: “2020 BIG Innovation Award” Business Information Group, “Top 10 SEO Solution Providers,” Marketing Tech Insights; “10 Best Marketing Solution,” Industry Era; “30 Fastest Growing Tech Companies,” Silicon Review; and numerous “Best Places to Work” awards from the American City Business Journals. Vivial is also a 2020 Best Place to Work-Certified^TM company.

For more information, visit https://vivial.net.

Contact:
Elizabeth Jensen
773-750-2569
elizabeth@approachmarketing.com