May the fourth not be a bank holiday …
Posted on 4th May 2020 at 13:42
As well as being an iconic day for all Star Wars fans, today traditionally would be the May Day Bank Holiday. How would you typically spend yours? I would have normally spent my afternoon and evening watching the final of the World Snooker Championship.
However, with the tournament delayed due to Covid-19 and the Bank Holiday being moved to Friday to celebrate 75 years since VE day, today was business as usual for Customer First Digital.
Changes to bank holiday dates have historically caused challenges for brands. Often a common pitfall for retailers is a failure to plan for how the changes to Easter dates and months affect customer behaviour. This unique change, in an even more unique moment in time, needs careful consideration and planning.
Here are our top 3 tips for brands this week as they face into another unknown trading situation ...
Look back to Good Friday to inform your trading and marketing plans – of course, this is the only other bank holiday which is certain to fall on a Friday. As we were in full lockdown mode by this point, this date is a good reference point to understand expected customer behaviour. Look at what your customers purchased in Good Friday week, removing any products which would have been positively affected by the warmer weather. This should help to inform your trading and marketing plans, including what products to prioritise, in addition to budget planning
Communicate your delivery and store opening times over bank holiday – over the last 8 weeks, delivery has been at the forefront of customers minds and high up on the comms agenda. Are you able to deliver throughout the weekend? When are your last guaranteed delivery dates before the weekend? If you are an essential store and have remained open, are there any changes to your opening hours and times when key workers and the elderly can come into store? Make sure that these questions are answered across your site, marketplaces, social and email communications
Factor the change into your weekly run rate reports – it is challenging to review Year on Year performance at the minute however I know many are using it as a reference point still and look at week to date impressions, traffic, sales and revenue run rates. If you are monitoring week to date sales contribution based on last year’s performance, remember that your run rate will be different. Ensure this is clearly communicated in reporting to your seniors, to set expectations that the run rate will be different
And a bonus fourth tip … the most important tip for everyone that reads this (and especially me) ... make sure you that you don’t wander into your new workspace and start working on Friday
May the fourth be with you all.
Tagged as: Events
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