3 Marketing Strategies to Attract Last-Minute Holiday Shoppers

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Attract last-minute holiday shoppers with these 3 marketing strategies: discounts, shipping messages and gift card promotions. | SUCCESS

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If the holiday season is a busy selling time for you, you probably didn’t procrastinate in your fourth-quarter marketing efforts.

But, as you know, many consumers procrastinate—waiting until the last minute to buy holiday gifts. A Shopify-Gallup 2023 Shopping Pulse report showed that, of the 1,888 people surveyed in November, 16% wouldn’t even start shopping until December.

This year is likely to have even more last-minute shoppers because Thanksgiving falls on November 28. That means there are five fewer official holiday shopping days than last year, when Thanksgiving fell on November 23.

Savvy retailers will find ways to attract those last-minute shoppers. Read on for some quick and easy ways to boost your current marketing efforts.

Discounting will drive online sales, according to Adobe’s online shopping forecast for the 2024 holiday season. It will likely fuel all retail sales, as consumers remain price-sensitive.

Most shoppers enjoy getting a “good deal.” Confirmed by a consumer insights study commissioned by Google in 2023: 84% of holiday shoppers say they will keep an eye open for deals, discounts or promotions throughout the holiday season.

For last-minute shoppers, retailers can effectively market using flash sales and daily deals.

Flash sales offer a discount for a limited time. Daily deals during the holiday season are often tied to specific shopping days and themes, such as Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Super Saturday and the 12 Days of Christmas.

The combination of a discount and a place to find last-minute gifts can motivate procrastinating shoppers to buy.

Here are some inspiring examples of last-minute flash sales and daily deals posted on social media:

In addition to a discount and the convenience of local pickup, marketing messages can offer a “pat on the back” to customers for supporting a local business:

Savvy service providers can get last-minute holiday sales with flash sales, too. This example from a photographer also includes the scarcity of sessions, to drive sales:

In addition to using social media to post daily deals, sending deals to your email list can also drive last-minute sales.

This is an email message sent by Banish Business Clutter:

“For the last three years, this daily deals strategy has consistently increased audience engagement and revenue during the last quarter,” says Lydia Martin, founder of Banish Business Clutter.

Here’s how it works: In the company’s “12 Days of Christmas” promotion, a new deal is offered each day for 12 consecutive days (Dec 1-12). Each deal is only available for 24 hours, which builds excitement and urgency. On Days 13-14, the company surprises its audience by reopening all the deals for a final “last chance” push.

“This promotion generates over $20K in just 12 days, and by the end of the month, we typically reach $30K in sales,” says Martin. One-third to half of those sales come in on Days 13-14, as people rush to grab the deals they missed.

The success of this campaign, which targets business owners, highlights the fact that business customers are viable last-minute holiday shoppers. After all, business owners are also consumers and respond to the same messages.

“I believe the campaign’s success comes from offering fresh deals each day, which keeps customers returning and engaged. The fun, urgency-driven format encourages quick action. It’s also a great way to introduce new products and increase purchase size through bundled deals and exclusive bonuses. The multi-day format gives us multiple touchpoints to connect with customers, extending the promotion beyond a single event,” says Martin.

According to internal data from Google, in the U.S., from November 28 to December 4, 2023, searches for “last day to ship for Christmas 2023” grew over 200%.

Last-minute shoppers want this information, so including it in your marketing messages makes sense.

In this example, instead of an image, Asos used an animated GIF for the wording at the top of this email message to capture attention:

For email campaigns, make sure your subject line also includes the date and time of the last possible moment that shoppers can order gifts in time for holiday delivery.

If you’re willing to offer expedited shipping of last-minute holiday gifts, promoting that message can increase sales.

In a Google/Ipsos, U.S. Omnichannel Holiday study, a third of last-minute shoppers said they decided where to buy gifts depending on how quickly they could get them.

Here is a social media example of an online retailer that not only offers fast shipping of last-minute holiday gifts, but offers it for free with guaranteed delivery by Christmas:

Online gift cards are a great option for last-minute shoppers of all ages.

Of the 2,000 shoppers surveyed in the Blackhawk Network’s 2024 U.S. holiday 2024 shopper and gift card insights survey, 55% of Gen Z, 58% of Millennials, 44% of Gen X and 34% of Boomers plan on purchasing gift cards online.

This social media post cleverly calls attention to avoiding crowded malls (convenience) and the ability to buy at the last minute (even Christmas Day):

Online retailers can also send digital gift card last-minute gift suggestions to their email lists. Since the subscribers to an email list have already purchased or expressed interest in products, reminding them of the availability of this last-minute option may be the push they need to purchase gift cards:

“Our digital e-gift cards work really well as a last-minute offer due to the ease and convenience,” says Parima Ijaz, of Pure Parima. “Once purchased, they get sent directly to their inbox of choice, so there are no shipping delays or waiting times and they can be sure to get the gift to their loved ones in time, even if they wait to purchase right before.”

Offering discounts, providing shipping messages for guaranteed Christmas delivery and promoting online gift cards are all smart strategies that can help increase your last-minute holiday sales. Then, you can have the best gift of all—a happy and successful holiday season!

Photo by Irina Shatilova/Shutterstock

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