Editorial Articles

Anton Gething, Co-founder & Product Director at nToklo considers opportunities for retailers at Christmas

“One good thing about Christmas shopping...it toughens you up for the January sales.”
Author unknown

Christmas is traditionally a time of joy and happiness. However, it can be a testing period for individuals and businesses alike. Whether you’re a retailer trying to make the most of the high point of the calendar, an individual searching for that perfect present or the uncomfortable recipient unwrapping a less than perfect gift under the scrutinising gaze of friends and relatives on Christmas morning, it can be a tense time of year. There can be lots of pleasure in the purchasing, giving and receiving of gifts, but all too often we get it wrong, leading to trying times all round. Not least for the already challenged retail sector.

Who doesn’t want to give the perfect present? Consumers have already been scouring the stores, both physical and virtual, for months in the search for gifts and Cyber Monday saw the UK spending £19 million an hour. Just how many of those gifts will end up listed across ecommerce sites by the end of the big day this year?

Last year over 500,000 of us Brits had already dumped piles of unwanted gifts on eBay by the end of Christmas night, and we have all seen the ‘returns’ queues snaking around stores in the days following Christmas Day. The unwanted gifts listed on eBay alone totalled an estimated £650 million last year.

This represents an enormous opportunity for retailers hoping to build the Holy Grail – consumer loyalty. Imagine if there was be a better way to help your customers take some of the stress out of the festive period? A way to allow UK shoppers to select gifts based on a more accurate understanding of what the recipient really wants and has been lusting after. For the online retailer the rise of social commerce offers them the chance to do just that.

The concept of social commerce has been around for the past few years and most online retailers have already tested the water, using social media channels to try to increase brand loyalty and engage consumers. The basic issue here is that social media inherently requires consumers to engage with the brand away from the retailer’s own online presence. Consumers discussing your brand and your Christmas collection is fantastic but, the further away they are from your site, the less impetus they will have to follow through to purchase.

To create a true social commerce offering, brands must offer consumers the route to purchase and a truly social experience, and most importantly must be able to do this on their own site. It may sound simple, but the ability to recommend and share products you like is something many retailers are still not able to offer. Imagine if you could log into a department store’s site and see what your wife, brother or best friend has added to his or her ‘wishlist’ as well as the products he has ‘favourited’ or ‘liked’? It’s a ready-made wish list that guarantees you will be a Christmas winner (and equally guarantees the retailer increased loyalty and gratitude – big win here!). Through social media integration and the provision of social discovery features, retailers can allow consumers to truly understand what each other wants and what would make a good gift.

The modern consumer is nothing if not brand promiscuous but, if done correctly, social commerce can be a powerful and profitable way to build brand trust and increase shopping confidence. For retailers, using social engagement to make the consumer’s life less stressful when choosing presents could go a long way to growing customer approval and retention rates, while also making the consumer Christmas experience more fun and a little less painful. This could be a ‘miracle on the high street’ for the often maligned retail industry, as well as gift givers and receivers across the UK. 

Anton Gething, Co-founder & Product Director, nToklo
www.ntoklo.com/