The holiday shopping season is one of the busiest times of the year for brands and retailers. When crafting a strategy to reach bigger audiences and drive sales, marketers need to understand that not all consumers are the same. Brands need to keep multicultural perspectives and cultural approaches regarding holiday shopping in mind to convert consumers across broader demographics into purchasers.
For the past two years, My Code’s Intelligence Center has analyzed the behavior and purchase intentions of diverse holiday shoppers so that brands can effectively reach these segments.
Early Shopping Trends
According to Intelligence Center’s annual Holiday Gift Shopping report, multicultural consumers have less urgency to start buying holiday gifts earlier in the year. Thirty-four percent of multicultural shoppers plan to start gift-buying earlier relative to last year, compared to 40% of non-multicultural shoppers. In addition, in-store shopping and omnichannel fulfillment options (like in-store pickup) will grow in prominence this year, encouraging diverse consumers to begin their shopping later.
Online Vs. In-Person Shopping
Online shopping accounted for over half of retail sales before the pandemic and has only grown in popularity since 2020. However, consumers are increasingly concerned that they won’t get their gifts in time for the holidays due to ongoing shipping delays and supply chain issues. While online shopping still appeals to multicultural audiences, with nearly a quarter of them choosing this method of shopping for most of their holiday gift purchases, retail brands must be prepared for high footfall and omnichannel online order fulfillment options. Based on Intelligence Center’s study, 24% of multicultural consumers plan on shopping in-store while 53% will shop both online and in-store.
Diverse shoppers are also more likely to go in-store during key holiday sale events, like Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Small Business Saturday. Approximately 5-in-10 multicultural gift shoppers say they do mind paying for shipping and 7-in-10 feel that in-store or curbside pickup are valuable options. During Cyber Week, brick-and-mortar and omnichannel retailers should still run in-store promotions to meet customer expectations.
The Role of Social Commerce
Social commerce may play a more meaningful role in gift purchasing this holiday season, even though comfort with in-app retail purchases remains a challenge. Intelligence Center reports that more multicultural holiday gift shoppers are open to making purchases on Instagram compared to non-multicultural holiday gift shoppers. In addition, 1-in-3 Black holiday gift shoppers are open to making retail purchases in TikTok. Understanding your brand’s audience during planning and delivering messaging on the right channel can help make a big impact on business results.
Understanding Multicultural Consumers
According to Intelligence Center’s Holiday Gift Shopping report, 74% of consumers want more retail advertising made with them in mind. By clearly understanding each segment’s cultural nuances, brands can generate more compelling content and campaigns that resonate with multicultural audiences.
Click here to explore additional reports from My Code’s Intelligence Center to better engage diverse consumers this holiday season.
