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The holiday retail scene is a whirlwind of change, with consumer behaviors and expectations evolving at a rapid pace. The one constant? It’s a busy and very profitable time for retailers.

In fact, 2022 holiday sales revenue increased to $936.3 billion with The National Retail Federation reporting an unprecedented 7% increase in sales revenue last year. 

Traditionally, holiday omnichannel marketing strategies relied heavily on seasonality and consumer buying patterns. Retailers would engage customers through print and digital ads, television commercials, in-store specials, and direct mail campaigns, offering discounts and holiday specials to attract customers and drive more sales.  

Customers’ buying journeys are not linear and they may interact with a retailer across many different, online and offline channels. The traditional omnichannel strategies often lack the ability to easily measure engagement to better personalize consistent customer experiences, leading to missed sales opportunities and dissatisfied customers.  

With more competition, higher expectations from customers, sophisticated market changes, and an overwhelming amount of customer data points to consider, the challenge for retailers grows ever greater.

As the 2023 holiday season approaches, retailers are already looking for ways to leverage advanced data-driven marketing technologies to create efficiency, improve performance measurement, and capture a larger portion of this growing market.  

To that end, artificial intelligence (AI) is an invaluable resource for businesses when it comes to identifying and capitalizing on opportunities during the holidays. 

AI's Role in Your Holiday Marketing Strategies

Innovation is not just a nice-to-have, it's a must-have. AI's ability to analyze and act on massive volumes of data in real-time accelerates data-driven marketing, real-time decision-making, advanced measurement, and personalized experiences.  

The huge variety of AI technologies on the market have the potential to redefine the retail landscape. 

With the holiday season coming up, retailers have a chance to leverage the abilities of AI for any holiday marketing campaigns they're running. 

Retailers can use AI to attract customers and drive more sales by:

• Streamlining business operations
• Enhancing customer engagement
• Automating mundane tasks
• Analyzing customer behavior
• And, crafting targeted data-driven marketing campaigns that hit the mark every time.  

With the time and resources retailers can save and the opportunity to create more personalized and consistent experiences that keep shoppers engaged, it’s no surprise that more companies are investing in AI-driven, omnichannel marketing strategies to make the most of their holiday marketing campaigns. 

Leveraging AI-Driven Strategies for the Holiday Season 

AI-driven holiday marketing strategies are valuable for retailers, but many find themselves at a loss on how to apply AI to effective omnichannel marketing strategies.  

Here are six use cases for retailers to use AI during the 2023 holiday season.    

Optimizing Real-Time Insights for Ad Placements 

With AI, retailers can optimize their ad spend and placement to get the most value out of their ad spend.  

AI can quickly analyze the effectiveness of every placement and identify which ads are most likely to perform well.  

These insights provide up-to-date and accurate information on the most effective ad placement, ensuring that holiday campaigns reach the right audience. With this optimization, retailers can enhance their return on investment (ROI), attract more customers and drive more sales.  

Streamlining Inventory Management  

It’s always a gamble for retailers to decide the types and volume of products to stock for the holiday season. Supply chain issues make this even more challenging for retailers, who must carefully estimate inventory mix, quantity, and availability for the busiest shopping season of the year.  

Through predictive analytics, AI can forecast customer behavior and trends to understand when and where to stock up on products or order new items from suppliers.  

Additionally, AI can analyze customer data to determine which products are more in demand during the holidays and adjust supply accordingly. 

This data-driven marketing strategy not only helps retailers reduce the number of out-of-stock items, but also ensures they have the right amount and type of inventory when customers start buying for the holidays. 

Using AI-Chatbots to Improve Customer Experience  

Emotions are heightened during the holiday season, and customers may seek customer service support at a higher frequency.  

Instead of overburdening your call center, AI-powered chatbots help provide 24/7 customer support. When using machine learning algorithms to interpret customer inquiries and feedback, chatbots can effectively tailor experiences for customers.  

This support includes answering product inquiries, providing information on shipping and returns or even providing holiday promotions to customers in real time.  

Additionally, they can be used to personalize customer experiences, by offering personalized recommendations or discounts based on user preferences. 

Targeting the Right Audience for Data-Driven Marketing 

AI can help retailers find the most relevant audiences to target for their holiday marketing campaigns and promotions. Through predictive analytics, AI can forecast customer behavior, intent, and trends to understand where to allocate capital and resources. 

For example, AI can analyze customer behavior and segment an audience based on order frequency, likelihood to buy, product preferences, and more. It can then identify the promotions or discounts to serve up to different audience segments to motivate their conversions and tailor products and content recommendations to these different customer groups.

This way, retailers can ensure that each of their target audiences will receive the right message, at the right time and through the right channel.  

Fraud Detection & Prevention during the Holidays 

AI can develop fraud detection algorithms that identify suspicious activities and transactions. This helps retailers protect their businesses from fraudulent practices during the holidays, ensuring that customers are safe when shopping online or in-store.  

AI can also help detect potential vulnerabilities in ecommerce platforms, allowing them to take preventive measures before any damage is done.  

With data from previous purchases or interactions, AI can detect patterns in customer behavior that may indicate fraudulent activity. This helps retailers protect their businesses and customers during the holidays.   

Voice Search Optimization and Enhanced User Experience 

AI helps retailers optimize their content for voice search queries during the holiday season. With natural language processing (NLP) capabilities, AI can detect common phrases and keywords used in user queries, like “holiday deals near me” or “best winter fashions” and create optimized content that ranks higher on search engine result pages. 

This helps ensure that customers find what they’re looking for quickly and easily, leading to an enhanced user experience that can potentially increase conversions and sales. You can even identify common customer questions related to the holiday season and auto-generate answers. 

AI is the Future of Retail 

AI is transforming retail, making the industry a more connected and exciting experience for customers. Retailers can use AI-powered analytics to gain a deeper understanding of their target audiences, optimize content, run effective holiday marketing campaigns, and maximize their return on investment in every way possible. 

Whereoware specializes in leveraging AI and other data-driven marketing technologies to help retailers create personalized holiday marketing strategies that rank high on search engines, reach the right audiences, and drive conversions.

Whether you need to refresh your website, run targeted email marketing campaigns, improve your data and measurement practice, or elevate your mobile app, contact us to get started!