How to Appeal to Holiday Shoppers

By Eric Shafer

Today it seems like as soon as Memorial Day wraps up, we can expect to see ads for Black Friday. With so many offers tied to Black Friday and Cyber Monday, there’s a whole new niche of discount-savvy customers to appeal to. Some websites are devoted entirely to reaching this customer base and can be installed as extensions directly into your browser. These companies scan through a ton of data every day to compile a homepage of coupons for shoppers to scroll through and links to apply when you’re shopping on another website. Advertising on these platforms can be an excellent option for local businesses, but they often come with additional fees taken out of whatever deals you’re offering your clients. Learning how to appeal to customers when they’re still in your store or shopping at the places they frequent most can lead to a serious increase in sales for your business. That being said, all that’s left to figure out is how and where to do it.

How to Get Shoppers Back In the Door

It’s one thing to build an entirely new customer base, but it’s another to nurture the relationships you already have with your customers. Incentivizing repeat customers through rewards programs or offers tailored to their needs are great ways to make sure your customers leave happy and return quickly. One way to do this is by printing new coupons directly on the receipt. That way, when they’re leaving your store and reviewing how much they already saved, they’ll suddenly see they qualify for your next deal. Maybe you can combine this with a mail-out coupon that hits the homes of everyone within a few miles of your store or customers who submitted their information as part of your rewards program. That way, you know that your most important customers —AKA your current ones— are getting the most bang for their buck. Note, you don’t have to limit yourself to your receipt. You can target your customers with an ad at places like grocery stores where your coupon can receive 20,000 views as customers shop near your business each week. More often than not, these customers will end up further promoting your company by word of mouth and possibly passing along your coupon. By discussing your business with other locals, they’re not only advertising your company for free but are also creating meaningful connections between you and your community. Taking advantage of the empty real estate on the back of your or a grocery store’s register tape is an easy way to cash in on paper you’re already paying for.

Where Do All Holiday Shoppers Shop?

There’s one place every holiday shopper visits no matter what holiday they’re celebrating or who they’re shopping for. That place is the grocery store. Most families plan around a few big meals as the seasons change, and even frozen-pizza loving couples will need to venture out to buy their dinner. With everyone congregating to purchase cleaning supplies, snowflake cookie ingredients, or beer for the last game, grocery store advertising is often the smartest option for a local business. Also, grocery store advertising doesn’t have to be limited to deals on food. Using in-store supermarket advertising to promote a deal from your nail salon or dry cleaning business is sure to catch the holiday shopper’s attention. No matter how many holiday parties you sneak your way out of, there’s sure to be one you want to impress for —or can’t get out of. Allowing customers to spot a supermarket advertisement for a premium service they normally wouldn’t splurge on is an easy way to incentivize their purchase or remind them of how much better they’d feel looking their best, especially when they’re slowly ambling around the grocery store in sweat pants.

Restaurant Advertising and Hungry Shoppers

For restaurants, this can be especially true. If we crunch the numbers, most people are only planning on tackling one or two big holiday meals. That means they’ll be in the grocery store picking up ingredients at least once —but for some of us, that may turn into two or four times depending on what we forgot. Sending out the right supermarket advertisement, and using in-store supermarket advertising to catch their eye at the last second, could mean cashing in on future business. Moreover, cooking is exhausting. For every hungry holiday shopper, ten fatigued people are waiting for them to finish making dinner. Whether you’re cooking or eating, spotting a supermarket advertisement for 50% off your meal at the pizza place down the street is often enough to scrap at least one labor-intensive meal a week. Additionally, this year more people are ordering take-out than ever before. Taking advantage of delivery platforms can be an excellent way to reach people when they’re already shopping around for their next meal and often means sharing a portion of the proceeds with these platforms. Using grocery store advertising to promote your restaurant’s free delivery policy is the easiest way to catch the savvy consumer’s eye. Combining that supermarket advertisement with another 10-20% off is typically enough to secure their business.

Bring It Home

The best way to combine these two hacks is to print your store’s advertisement on the back of a customer’s grocery store receipt. Around the holidays, most shoppers end up pinching pennies and are going to end up paying a little extra attention to their grocery bills. Everyone is bound to at least look over their receipt, if not file it away with the month’s expenses, so your supermarket advertisement will be right there every step of the way. If you’re looking to advertise your business, customers may notice and buy into any way you’re branding your company. However, if you use your grocery store advertising campaign to promote a coupon or discount your store offers, customers are even more likely to notice. Equipped with these “savings,” the majority of clients will think of you the next time they’re shopping around for your service and will likely go well out of their way to redeem the coupon. Securing this business is an easy way to reach people you wouldn’t otherwise and a straightforward way to hack the holidays.

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