Looking back to look ahead: How 2023’s holiday season trends guide 2024 festive marketing

Here, InMobi recap the key consumer trends during the 2023 holiday shopping season and look at how they can inform effective festive marketing strategies in 2024.

2024 begins on an exciting note for both brands and marketers in Southeast Asia. With the Lunar New Year and Ramadan festivities right around the corner, Southeast Asians are brimming with joy and passionately preparing for a period of celebrations.

In this piece, we look back at some key consumer trends observed in the 2023 year-end holiday shopping season and how they can help craft sharp, powerful, and effective festive marketing strategies in 2024.

The sentiment and spends

During the 2023 holiday shopping season, 90% and 82% of Southeast Asian shoppers stated they would be increasing or maintaining their online and offline shopping budgets, respectively, compared to the previous year (2022).

Furthermore, as Southeast Asians approached the 2023 year-end holiday sale spree, more than half of shoppers reported that they were still deciding on a brand, and 67% of such shoppers showed a tendency to spend between the mid and high ranges.

What this means for marketers planning during the 2024 festive season

Presence on both online and offline channels is critical. Hybrid shopping is on a high, which means consumers will be more likely to engage with brands across mediums. It is thus important for brands to build consistent and compelling experiences across channels.

Similarly, presence and persuasion across shopper journeys are important. Consumers think and behave differently at every step of their shopping journey, and brands must tailor their communication and experiences to match the stage of decision-making they are at. Over the past couple of years, consumers have evolved to be more discerning and keep researching and exploring brands online on mobile. They are also inclined to spend well if they find what they want.

Considering this, a brand that shows up and constantly engages with them with relevant mobile experiences is bound to win hearts. Presence and persuasion can make all the difference.

The leading shopping medium

Without a doubt, mobile lay at the heart of hybrid shopping during the 2023 holiday sale season in Southeast Asia. From learning about sales and offers and researching products and brands to finally making the purchase decision, mobile was present in every stage.

What this means for marketers planning during the 2024 festive season

The mobile-first brand will be the winner. Brands that offer innovative and personalized mobile experiences will attract the attention of their audience, no matter what stage of the shopping journey they are at.

The time to engage

It is well known that Southeast Asians spend more time on their phones than most regions in the world. Shopping is one of the critical activities that occur on the phone throughout the day. However, it peaks in the evenings and sees one distinct surge later in the day. Over the period of holiday shopping, activity peaked around the double-digit shopping festivals and sales such as Singles Day (11/11) and Black Friday. Similar spikes can be expected in Southeast Asia as leading e-commerce players plan 02/02 and 03/03 sales ahead of Lunar New Year and Ramadan respectively. Discovery, research, and buying is highest for Southeast Asians around these sales events.

What this shows marketers planning for the 2024 festive season

Timely and targeted experiences will drive impact. Being present at the right time around key sales events to the right audience will create memorable experiences for them and drive meaningful connections.

The brands that shined on mobile

If you are a marketer looking for festive marketing inspiration, here are two stellar stories of success. Check out these two brands that achieved brilliant results during the festive season in Indonesia.

The wonder of Wall’s: Driving togetherness during Ramadan

After two years of remote celebration, the travel wave of Mudik during the month of Ramadan was back with a bang. Wall’s wanted to rise above the noise of the season and truly be a part of the reunions of Indonesian families while promoting their recently relaunched popular family sharing ice cream tub, Viennetta. The brand created a compelling and contextual campaign to engage the Indonesian festive traveler in their own city.

With sharp audience and location targeting that carried contextualized messaging in the local language, the brand drove delight – and eventually, footfalls and visits – right from mobile. 51% of engaged users got directions to the nearest store, and 49% of engaged users visited the online store – results that were nothing short of amazing.

The fresh approach of Indofood Freiss: A powerful packaging launch

During Ramadan 2023, Indofood Freiss launched its new packaging with a feature that would delight Indonesians who loved using syrups in their Suhoor and Iftar recipes. The industry-first spill-proof technology ensured that storage became more manageable and cooking became much less messy.

To increase awareness, excitement, and purchases for this packaging, the brand launched a mobile-first campaign that presented an appetizing cooking live stream to Indonesians right around their fast-breaking time – before they unlocked their phones. It then offered a sampling experience with delightful deals that drove purchases, leading to 102% of the coupon redemption target being achieved.

The three-part festive formula for marketers

Insights from the 2023 holiday shopping season, as well as the stories of brands that achieved success during festive periods, show:

1. Understanding sentiment leads to experiences that are relevant

Getting to know the festive consumer and keeping their sentiment at the core of a brand’s communication leads to a natural connection with the audience.

2. Engaging at every mobile touchpoint drives instantaneous impact

From the front page of mobile to the app ecosystem, there is an opportunity on every screen.

3. Technology, timeliness, and targeting make up terrific experiences

Leveraging these tools to create powerful, meaningful, and impactful experiences for the right audience at the right time is vital.

With this, we hope you have a successful Lunar New Year and Ramadan.