Shoppers plan to shop at multiple stores as well as websites.
The 2014 holiday shopper will “travel” to stretch every dollar. 53 percent plan to visit two to three stores/sites and 23 percent plan to visit three to four stores/sites.
More shoppers than ever will make purchases online – 56%. (US Today, 2014) OOH activates consumer engagement by empowering people to interact and transact with brands anytime and anyplace. In fact, OOH stimulates online activity with greater efficiency than any other offline medium. (OAAA, 2013)
Most long-distance holiday travel, about 91 percent is by personal vehicle. During the busiest travel times of the year, consumers have even greater exposure to OOH.
Relentless expansion of the holiday season.
Despite gripes about “Christmas creep,” holiday displays and promotions are being launched earlier than ever because competition is fierce.
Typically, weekends are busy times for customers to visit stores and consumers have only four full weekends to shop. As a result, sales promotions are expected to begin as early as the day after Halloween – the very start of the holiday season.
A recent poll reflected typical consumer holiday shopping plans:
- 38% start their holiday shopping by mid-October
- 34% start on Black Friday
- 18% start in early December
- 5% start a few days before the holidays
- 3% start on Cyber Monday
OOH offers advertisers mass reach, proximity to the point of transaction, and an advertising message that can’t be skipped, delayed, or turned off. All consumers face a time crunch during the holidays, and OOH is the perfect medium to remind them about gift shopping options when they’re in purchasing mode.
All About Discounts.
Holiday shoppers will spend more on average this year, while discounts remain the No. 1 factor influencing purchases, according to a National Retail Federation survey out today. 61% of consumers also reported that the biggest influence driving them to make a purchase is “an item being on sale.” (OAAA, 2014)
“The consumer today is just fanatical about saving money,” Britt Beemer, chairman of consumer behavior and retail strategy firm America’s Research Group told USA Today. “I think you’re going to see more retailers jump into the sale strategy. I think they’re going to be more aggressive and you may see bigger discounts earlier.”
While OOH is one of the best mass reach media vehicles available, it is the best at reaching consumers when they are in purchasing mode.
OOH’s ubiquity delivers relevant and relate able advertising that is in context – whether it’s based on location, environment, day-part, adjacency to retail, life-style choices, or mind-set. This powerful combination of physical impact, prime locations, context, and immediacy is something that other advertising formats cannot match.
OOH drives consumers to retail locations, to websites and to smart phone transactions.
Among consumers who viewed an OOH ad in the past month:
– 39% visited store advertised
– 39% talked about product advertised
– 33% attended event advertised
– 29% shopped a sale in-store that week
– 28% shopped a sale online that week
– 26% immediately visited business
– 26% visited website advertised
– 24% recommended a product
– 18% called phone number advertised
Get in the game early.
Retailers are eager to win the hearts and minds of shoppers, so they’re competing to get into the consumer mind-set. This year, being top of mind is especially important because retailers are struggling to make up for disappointing second-quarter earnings.
At Target, second-quarter earnings dropped 62% from those reported the previous year. In its second-quarter earnings report, Wal-Mart’s sales marked the sixth straight period of no growth at U.S. stores open at least a year. Sears Holdings, which owns Sears and Kmart stores, lost almost $1 billion in the first six months of the year, according to reports.
With many stores focusing on consumer conveniences for a competitive advantage – layaway, extended hours, and online ordering – retailers will be battling to ensure consumers understand the offerings from their specific store.
OOH offers the right marketing channel to deliver these important holiday messages:
•OOH prompts people at critical moments during the day when they are actively purchasing products
•OOH has a broad reach and can significantly amplify any media plan
•OOH stimulates online activity with greater efficiency than any other offline medium
Considering OOH for your holiday campaign? Contact us today for a free consultation.
Sources: Time, Arbitron, USA Touchpoints, Outdoor Media Centre