Tips for Targeting Last-Minute Christmas Shoppers Online

In eCommerce, the opportunities presented by last-minute Christmas shoppers can sometimes be overlooked. 

eCommerce marketing efforts often focus on targeting festive buyers earlier in the season during events like Cyber Weekend. However, not all shoppers are ready to buy then.

Some holiday shoppers remain immune to the excitement surrounding the BFCM weekend. Instead, they can prefer to save their spending until late December, after the main Christmas shopping rush is over.

Developing a strategy that addresses the specific needs of these shoppers will help you avoid losing out on potential revenue. So, let’s take a look at the behaviour driving delayed Christmas shopping and some top tips for targeting these shoppers.

Understanding last-minute Christmas shopping habits

The number of last-minute gift buyers is higher than you might think. Only 25% of consumers will have completed their Christmas shopping by the 18th of December.¹ This leaves 75% of shoppers still looking to purchase last-minute holiday gifts the week before Christmas.

Ensuring you appeal to this large market of consumers is key if you want to boost your Christmas eCommerce conversions. 

However, this can be challenging. Last-minute holiday shoppers are often under time pressure, indecisive, or financially constrained and could be delaying their festive purchases due to:

• Waiting for deals: Some buyers might hold off making a purchase as long as possible in hopes of snagging last-minute holiday deals.

• Budget constraints: Christmas can be expensive, and shoppers will need time to save up funds before they can spend.

• Lack of time: Around Christmas time, shoppers may have many social events to attend or business to wrap up at work. This can leave them with little time to spend searching for gifts.

• Dislike of shopping or uncertainty about what to buy: December retail sales can be overwhelming, leading some shoppers to put off making purchases until they absolutely have to.

• Difficulty finding specific products: With so many products and deals to navigate through at Christmas, shoppers can take longer to find their perfect gift.

Understanding the issues driving the behaviour of last-minute shoppers will better equip you to design eCommerce strategies that will be effective in late Q4.

How to boost last-minute Christmas sales

As we’ve discussed, there are many different factors driving last-minute Christmas shopping. To encourage these shoppers to buy from you, you’ll need to apply a combination of strategies to meet their needs.

Let’s explore some of the approaches you can take this festive period to both make shoppers’ lives easier and drive your conversions.

1. Generate urgency with time-limited deals and messaging

Shoppers are more likely to convert if you give them what they want. In the case of last-minute Christmas discount hunters, they want a good deal. 

Offering discounts, free shipping, or running sales can effectively drive these Christmas deal seekers to purchase. However, consider combining these strategies with deadlines to help create holiday shopping urgency and encourage earlier conversions.

Using an on-site messaging tool will help you clearly highlight these deals to shoppers. You can use on-site messaging campaigns to promote:

• Exclusive access to flash sales
• Competitor price matching
• Limited-time discount codes
• Free shipping over a certain spend

Offering discounts and ensuring shoppers are fully aware of these can prevent shoppers from looking elsewhere for a better deal. Knowing your deals expire soon can also motivate them to buy sooner rather than later.

2. Make finding the perfect gift easy

Last-minute shoppers can be easily put off by a bad user experience. If these shoppers struggle to navigate through your site to find what they’re looking for, they will likely leave without purchasing.

Your site’s search function is key to creating the seamless experience your shoppers will be looking for.

Consider improving your search by implementing an advanced solution such as Salesfire’s Search. This will ensure your shoppers receive fast and accurate results, connecting them with exactly what they’re looking for quickly. 

By offering easy product discovery, shoppers will be more inclined to purchase earlier from you, instead of a competitor.

3. Optimise your site for on-the-go shopping

Last-minute buyers are often in a rush, browsing on the go and using mobile devices to complete urgent holiday shopping.

These shoppers won’t have the patience for slow loading times or difficult mobile navigation. If faced with any of these issues, they will likely exit and shop with a competitor instead.

Keep these users on your site by ensuring your online store is optimised for mobile and loads quickly. We recommend doing the following:

• Test your site on mobile: Use a mobile device to run through the entire user journey from first click to checkout. This can help you notice any snags or issues with the user experience that need addressing.

• Optimise the on-site experience: Use AI-powered personalisation tools to enhance the shopping experience. These tools use a shopper’s real-time data to ensure shoppers receive the most relevant content and messaging, maximising engagement.

Providing a pleasant user experience will increase the likelihood of shoppers remaining on your site long enough to convert. This will help you ensure that these on-the-go shoppers spend with you, rather than your competitors. 

4. Provide personalised recommendations and gift suggestions

Having the choice of so many products when Christmas shopping online can lead to many customers experiencing decision paralysis. 74% of shoppers report abandoning their shopping cart due to feeling overwhelmed by choice.²

Give these shoppers a helping hand by making some of the decisions for them. By simplifying the process of choosing a gift, you could reduce their overwhelm and secure a sale.

Here are a couple of strategies you can use to do this:

• On-site recommendations: Prevent shoppers from having to search through your entire eCommerce store to find products they like. Use a recommendations solution to display personalised suggestions on product pages, based on a shopper’s real-time browsing activity.

• Email gift guides: Use automated emails to easily deliver personalised gift guides to your shoppers’ inboxes. Allowing shoppers to click directly through to hand-picked products can make purchasing much less intimidating and more likely.

Minimising the decisions your shoppers have to make will benefit both them and your brand. Not only is it easier for buyers to make a purchasing decision, but there’s a greater chance they will convert.

5. Retarget effectively with email and SMS

Many last-minute Christmas shoppers will browse your site or add things to their cart, but leave without completing their purchase. This could be because they got busy, distracted, or simply left to look for a better price elsewhere.

An effective email and SMS retargeting strategy can help you bring these shoppers back to buy. The following retargeting flows can be highly effective for last-minute shoppers:

• Browse abandonment flow: Send a series of emails and SMS to shoppers who abandoned their browsing session, prompting them to return.

• Abandoned cart flow: Remind shoppers of the items they left behind in their cart, to grab their attention and draw them back on-site.

Pro tip: Include an exclusive discount code within your browse and cart abandonment flows to provide extra motivation for shoppers to return. This can work especially well for shoppers looking for the best deal.

With these flows, you can give last-minute holiday shoppers that extra nudge they need to convert.

Wrapping everything up

Adapting your eCommerce strategy for last-minute Christmas shopping can seem overwhelming during such a busy time of year. However, as long as you keep these shoppers’ needs in mind, you can successfully encourage conversions in later Q4.

Whether shoppers are busy, overwhelmed, or deal-seeking, you can drive sales by providing an effortless, personalised, and mobile-friendly shopping experience.

1 UK consumers scramble for last-minute Christmas shopping | Retail Insight Network

2 Cutting through the noise in consumer experience | Accenture