Mastering the Festive Funnel: Omnichannel Marketing for the Hybrid Shopper

Authored by Krisneil Peres, Co-founder of Fame Keeda

India’s festive season is not only a time of celebration but also a period of increased consumer spending. For brands, this represents a golden opportunity to connect with audiences eager to make significant purchases. However, the modern shopper’s journey is no longer linear. Hybrid shopping—where consumers seamlessly switch between online and offline channels—has transformed how brands must approach marketing. To truly capitalise on the festive season, a full-funnel, omnichannel marketing strategy is essential.

Early Engagement: Foundation of the festive season

Preparations for big celebrations such as Diwali, Durga Puja, and Eid begin months in advance of the actual festivals. Consumers undertake many preparations for the pre-festive season-whether buying a new outfit or preparing their homes for festivals. Therefore, during this preparatory phase for the pre-festive season, brands can capitalise on the opportunity to engage with high intent shoppers early. 

Pre-events for pre-festive engagement:

Social Media Activation: Brands can begin building excitement from day one through posting festival centric content on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube to create anticipation for the festival along with brand awareness.

Personalised Emails & Targeted Ads: Ensuring direct contact through personalised emails while product recommendations are made based on the need of the festival-thus cleaning kits, festive decors, or gift ideas-and that functionally and emotionally involves a consumer.

Emotional Connect: Festivals are the perfect place for families to get together and connect on an emotional level. Brands that are responsive to this create messaging that echoes that sense of unity and thus makes connections with the shoppers more meaningful.

Connecting with consumers at the beginning of the journey, in fact means solidifying trust which is the most critical factor in conversion when the shopping peak comes.

Understanding the Hybrid Shopper

Today's consumer is not limited to one channel anymore and prefer moving through in-store, online, and mobile experiences to look for the best deal, convenience, and variety of offers. Consequently, brands have to handle three primary types of festive shoppers:

Unplanned Shoppers: They are attracted by festive offers and make impulse purchases. Their purchasing decision depends on discounts and time-sensitive offers.

Category Explorers: Such shoppers would spend more time researching products from various websites, comparing prices and finding value.

Brand Loyalists: Usually better-off, the shoppers are loyal towards specific brands and focus on bigger value purchases, whether in clothing or consumer electronics.

For these diverse consumer segments, thus, the brands have to provide a streamlined omnichannel experience. The buyer may be browsing through any channel-online, on an app when deals are out, or stopping by a physical store hence consistency and persistence are very critical. Offering an integrated, hybrid shopping experience ensures that consumers can transition easily between channels, which enhances their overall shopping experience.

Full-Funnel Strategy: Capturing Festive Shoppers at Every Stage

A full-funnel approach is the need of the hour during the festive season. Brands must connect with and engage consumers at every step of their journey-from awareness to conversion instead of targeting just the purchase stage.

Key Elements of a full-funnel strategy

Awareness: It begins with content that can touch the festive spirit, be it an influencer partnership, social media campaign, or branded festive events.

Consideration: Offer Themed Collections such as "Festive Fashion Must-Haves" or "Top 10 Diwali Gift Ideas," that make it very easy for customers to develop shopping intent.

Conversion: Ensure that checkouts are smooth on all devices especially mobile since mobile remains the leading device used in making festive season purchases online.

This can be achieved through the creation of a funnel that covers every stage of the customer journey, and from there, brands can ensure they are always present and relevant in each step, catching high-intent audiences ready to spend.

Increase Trust Through Cultural Relevance

Festivals are a very important component of Indian culture; only brands that understand this and work in tandem with it are able to establish a strong emotional connection between the brand and consumers. In fact, family, togetherness, and tradition-friendly marketing which integrates cultural value is likely to be remembered better than transactional messaging.

Also, it reflects societal and ethical concerns. Consumers believe strongly in the brands that make social contributions or speak to cultural sensitivities. It may vary from eco-friendly packaging to promotion of local artisans or green products during a festival season.

Conclusion

Mastering the festive funnel would require brand partnerships to make a shift towards fluid omnichannel strategies in an approach that is engaging hybrid shoppers from the early stages of their journey, personalising their experience, and delivering value throughout the customer journey. Brands can turn festive shoppers into long-term loyalists by tapping into the excitement of festivals, leveraging technology, and being culturally relevant.

 DISCLAIMER: The views expressed are solely of the author and Adgully.com does not necessarily subscribe to it.