As we near the end of Ramadan, Sprii’s CEO, Sarah Jones, shares her key insights into the expected shopping trends and how retailers should prepare for the Eid holiday period. With Ramadan coming to an end, we’ve looked back at the key shopping occasions, and although Black Friday, Christmas and January sales are key, Eid needs to be very high up on any retailer’s hit list.
It’s easy to group this in with the bigger and more global shopping peaks, but embracing Eid as a standalone retail period is a much better strategy, as it allows for businesses to consider locality and offer a much more personalised experience for the consumer.
Last year, we saw 40% spikes in sales for gear, such as strollers and car seats, that complemented the travel plans for many mums going away over Eid.
There was also a shift in what people bought from our homeware category; pre-Ramadan we saw coffee machines and food processors experience a +230% lift, whilst in the weeks that followed, sales for blenders, juicers and the ever-popular Nutribullet soared, suggesting that consumers wanted to begin a health kick after such an indulgent month prior!
We’re used to seeing people flock to supermarkets ahead of Ramadan, however Eid is an increasingly important retail event of note too, especially when it comes to fueling online sales in the region.
It’s not an exaggeration to say that shoppers are primed and eager to see how retailers respond during ‘events’ like Ramadan and Eid. I touched on it earlier how locality provides a unique opportunity for vendors to really tailor their promotions to each market, offering exclusive discounts that will encourage repeat business.
We recently launched in Saudi and know that the consumer mindset is different, their shopping habits more varied, which means we need to personalise our offers to cater to this. It’s no good just applying a one-size-fits all approach to every country you have a presence in, because competition is fierce and if you don’t stand out, then what’s to stop them going elsewhere? Remember you only have three seconds to make an impression and it needs to count.
As more people shift to ‘shopping on the go’ in line with their 24/7 always-on lifestyle, a great mobile web and app experience is a given, but this is particularly important during Eid if you want to capitalise on potential sales.
According to Criteo, last year weekly mobile share in sales surged by 17% during Eid al-Fitr versus 13.1% in the second week of Ramadan. In-app sales also grew by up to 79%, which shows how the user mindset is shifting towards an ‘app-first’ mentality, providing brands make their offering easy to navigate and intuitive to use.
It’s the easiest thing in the world to just launch an app, but to create something that really aligns with the customer journey takes a lot of work; it’s not something you can throw out into the market for the sake of ticking a box. The infrastructure behind the scenes needs to be in place in order to offer a new layer to the shopping experience, not just be another mobile version of your website.
Taking all of this into account, it’s true that planning can only get you so far. Businesses also need to be able to respond in real time, using the right data and feedback to shape and tailor the consumer journey as it unfolds. You could have a great product offering, but if you don’t connect with your consumers then your Eid promotions will fall flat and the expected peak won’t ever reach its potential.
Think of Eid as something of a red carpet event for retail. Vendors and consumers are looking to capitalise in different ways, which is why it’s essential for there to be synergy between the expectation and reality.
For the consumer, it’s a chance to indulge and treat their loved ones, whereas the vendor will look to rack up sales first and foremost, but if they are smart, they should think ‘personalisation at scale’ to speak to as many users as possible, whilst still retaining the appearance of a 1-1 relationship.
Not only will this result in an uptick in the short term, but it will encourage brand loyalty for future retention as well. After all, isn’t that the goal for any e-tailer worth their salt? Sales are fleeting and retail is a 365 days a year kind of game; loyalty counts for everything.
