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What Do Consumers Want This Coming Holiday Season? Everything!

Our new report answers that question and guides brands on how to prepare for an endlessly complicated 2022 peak season

Inflation. Job wage pressures. Industries that are growing. Industries that are not. Another wave of the pandemic along the way. Supply chain disruptions. Inventory shortages. Political turmoil. Climate change. War. 

My friends, these are not—to put it mildly—simple times. Lately it seems that there could not be more variables at play, both in commerce and in life. Stores are reopening. Consumers are deciding whether they are going to be multi-channel or stay mono channel. So many dynamics are set to profoundly impact consumer decision-making this upcoming holiday season. 

Michael Kahn (MK)
Global CEO at Astound

Luckily, we get it. We see the quagmire, and we can help your brand find your way through it. Our new report, What Consumers Want: How Your Brand Must Prepare for Peak Season 2022 and Beyond, offers an unprecedented view into recent consumer behavior trends based on an Astound Insights survey of 1,000 global shoppers from the Americas, Europe, and the Middle East. 

The data we uncovered makes three important priorities abundantly clear: 

User experience has never mattered more. Nearly three in four global consumers feel the economy is headed in the wrong direction, and to combat rising prices, consumers have altered their spending habits. They’re shopping less frequently than in previous years—only 55 percent shop online at least weekly. Your brand therefore can’t afford to miss the moment with a potential customer—because there are simply fewer opportunities to get it right. The key is leveraging data from all sources to uncover consumer insights that power media, content, and creative planning, buying, and optimization. Based on these insights, you can create more-relevant ads and experiences, personalized to shoppers moment by moment, to drive more conversions at a lower cost and fuel long-term growth and lifelong customer loyalty. 

Data is power—but it’s tricky. Our findings show that 60 percent of shoppers will abandon a site out of concern over their personally identifiable information (PII), and that the same percentage of shoppers believe brands can do more to protect their PII. It’s no easy feat to navigate the complex intersection of rapidly evolving industry, local, and international regulations—but navigate it you must. Further, given the demise of third-party data, an investment in a Customer Data Platform (CDP) provides the capability for brands to understand their customers by collecting, resolving, and actioning zero- and first-party data. It’s the right investment for any brand looking to craft a customer data strategy and campaigns that leverage CDP insights to deliver trusted, highly personalized cross-channel buying experiences.

Sustainability is more than a moral imperative. With two-thirds of global consumers citing a brand’s sustainable practices as at least somewhat important, a number that only rises when isolating the data for younger shoppers, employing such practices is no longer just a moral must-do—it’s also a business imperative. While actions like choosing lower-emission shipping methods and recycled packaging may be obvious choices, attention must be paid to the fact that online channels and websites contribute to greenhouse gas emissions and consume vast amounts of electricity. From reducing “fast fashion” to moving toward the creation of a greener online experience, developing a sophisticated and actionable sustainability strategy is complicated, multi-faceted . . . and crucial. 

To dive deep into the strategies, you need to devise and execute on these and other priorities, reach out to our experts in performance marketing, customer data, and sustainability today. And to get in-depth information on these themes and more, including super-specific metrics on everything from loyalty to returns to fraud to the metaverse, download our report today.

We are on call to help you successfully navigate the complicated mosaic facing all of us at this moment in time.

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