With flowers blooming, birds chirping, and the northeast finally digging their way out of the snow, spring is widely considered a time for new life. And, that feeling often translates into new shopping behaviors. From trying different grocery stores, to buying new clothes and changing up house décor, spring is a great time for marketers to reach new shoppers as they change their habits.
Capturing spring shoppers gives marketers an opportunity to acquire new consumers before the back-to-school season, the second largest shopping event for brands, begins. By analyzing $1.5T in actual consumer purchases, we saw back-to-school spend grow 2.93% from 2016. Major shopping events, like Prime Day, have pulled back-to-school spend forward by a good month. As a result, it’s increasingly critical for marketers to start building brand loyalty early in the year so they can capture the most spend during the back-to-school season.
Some essential tips for marketers who want to capture spring shoppers:
- Target likely buyers based on actual spend, so you know your marketing efforts are getting in front of consumers most likely to spend with you
- Make it easy for consumers to shop by offering online shipping deals for the spring, or free ship-to-store on spring clothes or new cleaning products
- Offer return rewards, like discounts for return visits during late summer, AKA back-to-school season
Strengthening loyalty during the spring months is critical to getting foot traffic for upcoming shopping events – namely, back-to-school and holiday. Be sure to check out our new back-to-school report, publishing in June, for more purchase insights and tips on capturing back-to-school shoppers.