4 Strategies For D2C Brands To Drive Sales This Festive Season

The festive season is just around the corner and for D2C brands it’s an exciting time with unrestricted celebrations, free of covid curbs. With increased mobility, consumer sentiments are shifting back to a more positive outlook, where they are willing to spend more and go on exciting shopping sprees. Anticipating the increase in order volumes and purchase support, these brands are aggressively working on their marketing strategies to ignite the festivity and skyrocket their sales and profits. 

As the D2C wave sweeps the country, brands are preparing to capitalise on golden opportunities and seize customers for the future. To ace up the unrestricted festive season, marketers of D2C brands have initiated the planning and execution of their campaigns well in advance to boost their sales. On the other hand, traditional brands are changing their top funnel to full-funnel marketing to take their business several notches up. 

Amid the festive marketing clutter, the imperative for every D2C brand and other online retailers is to curate and deliver a customer experience that will be the key differentiator in the market. 

Bolstering The Marketing Strategy 

In the present market landscape, competitiveness is growing at a fast pace with paradigm shifts in consumer demands. This paves the way for every D2C brand to stand apart and acquire customers through innovative campaigns. 

It begins with drawing up a festival marketing strategy on time with proper planning for promotion. It is critical to plan activities well in advance so that the D2C brand’s supply chain is not disrupted during the busy season. 

The best way to get started is to create a calendar of marketing activities in advance. This would further help the brand with budget allocations and fine-tuning of the strategies as per the market dynamics. 

Impactful CX Is A Game Changer 

Marketers of D2C brands invest significant resources and time in expanding the brand’s reach and driving traffic. To further their efforts, it is necessary to lead the upcoming traffic to conversion by providing the best customer experience, especially during the festive season. 

Marketers can begin by optimising their website in terms of speed, UI, and UX. Any lag in loading the website or its unresponsiveness can quickly lead to frustration and the brand might lose its customers. Hence, the website or app needs to be well-optimised for devices across the landscape. 

In addition, try to remove unwanted and distracting ads or pop ups that can hamper customers’ shopping experience. It is also imperative to pay special attention to payment options and the security of customer data.

Furthermore, gifting is one of the most integral parts of the festive season. Offering attractive packaging that differentiates from others in the market can elevate customers’ gifting experience. 

In the case of bulk or corporate orders, D2C brands can also look for exclusive merchandise or branding solutions to retain customers. Furthermore, in a scenario where ecommerce marketplaces are flooded with discounts, D2C brands can capitalise on offering exclusive deals that will divert customers’ shopping routes to their website. 

Enable Faster Deliveries

In a fast growing ecommerce market like India, the race has bent towards the fact – ‘who will reach the customer first’ i.e. ‘the delivery’. From express delivery to same-day or two-hour delivery, the market has evolved to increase sales, convert new customers, and profit.  

According to statistics, 63% of online shoppers expect fast delivery from the marketplace where they shop. Furthermore, 58% of customers say they would switch to another ecommerce platform if they had faster delivery options. 

D2C brands can capitalise on the opportunity to build a long-term customer base by satisfying their desire for faster deliveries.  Furthermore, these brands can also incorporate a combination of delivery options starting from same-day delivery to standard delivery time, especially during festivities. This can bring in last-minute orders or customers, contributing immensely to sales.    

Reduce RTOs

Since the Indian ecommerce market is highly competitive, D2C brands must capitalise on pre-paid orders. According to various industry reports, ecommerce companies receive more than 70% of COD orders, with one-third of those returning to origin (RTO), resulting in brand losses.  

As a result, D2C brands must incentivise their customers to pay online by offering them benefits such as offers, discounts, and coupons to reduce the likelihood of fraud/undelivered COD orders.

In the upcoming festive season when a huge chunk of customers are shifting to online space for their festive shopping, D2C brands and their marketers must focus on reducing the RTOs orders. 

Integrating automated systems to identify incomplete or non-deliverable addresses can reduce the number of risky COD orders. Another way to achieve this goal is by sending payment links to the customer before delivery, ensuring their interest in buying the product.   

Marketing campaigns that are carefully planned can provide a great opportunity for D2C brands to scale their business. By delivering irresistible deals and customer experience, these brands can embark on the journey of massive success during the auspicious festive season. 

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