Festive Season Strategies for D2C Brands to Boost Sales in India

In India, the festive period kicks off in September with celebrations like Navratri, Dussehra, and Eid, continuing through Diwali and lasting until December where we celebrate Christmas and New Year. The festive season brings cheer, excitement, preparations, and shopping! Even as physical interactions return to normal after two years of the pandemic, the digital space continues to hold people’s attention. Brands now need to navigate both online and offline spaces effectively, ensuring they capture this dual audience and maximise their reach during the festive frenzy. 

Embracing digital marketing strategies and personalised customer experiences remains crucial in keeping consumers engaged and boosting sales. This has turned the festive season into one of the most hectic yet rewarding times for D2C brands to expand and thrive. Many businesses also offer massive discounts on their products to attract consumers.

D2C brands need to work hard to grab people’s attention. The festive season is a great time to grow by offering special deals, sharing fun content on social media, and making shopping easy and fast. By providing quick deliveries and ensuring customers have a smooth shopping experience, brands can make the most of the holiday season and attract more buyers.

How Can D2C Brands Grow During the Festive Season?

To grow your brand this festive season, focus on these four simple steps:

1. Attract New Customers: Take advantage of the festive buzz to attract new buyers and turn them into loyal customers.
2. Build Loyalty: Ensure customers have a great experience so they keep coming back for more.
3. Keep Advertising: Even after the holidays, promote your brand so people remember you for future purchases.
4. Stay Connected: Use social media and emails to engage customers and respond to their needs.

Strategies to Scale Your Brand’s Growth

Here’s how you can boost your sales and grow your eCommerce store this festive season:

How Should You Prepare for the Festive Season?

Launching a festive-specific collection before the holiday season can generate excitement and attract more customers. New product launches perform better than existing collections; it’s ideal to create fresh designs and give them festive names like “Diwali Collection” or “Dussehra Collection.” Depending on the size of your catalogue, aim to introduce 20-40 new designs. Additionally, creating separate campaigns and ads to highlight these new collections will help catch the attention of potential buyers and boost your sales.

How Can Brands Meet Shifting Consumer Demands?

Many online sellers have adapted to shifting consumer demand to stay competitive in an increasingly challenging market. Buyers seek fresh and diverse products as their preferences evolve. Customers have high expectations beyond just having a wide variety of products. They look for same or next day deliveries, a smooth and hassle-free shipping process, excellent customer support, and multiple payment options. To ensure a satisfying shopping experience. It is essential to meet these demands effectively. With the festive season approaching, you’ll likely see a spike in orders, return requests, and customer inquiries. Therefore, it’s crucial to evaluate your current shipping strategy and, if necessary, develop a new one to better meet these evolving customer expectations.

What Marketing and Advertising Strategies Work Best During the Festive Period?

The surge in online shopping and increasing brand competition make effective marketing essential. To stand out, create engaging content that addresses customer needs and presents your products as solutions. Running discovery ads on YouTube can help build awareness before the festive season. These ads, appearing in users’ feeds like social media posts, typically cost less per click. Focus on optimising for conversions, targeting custom intent audiences, and promoting specific products. Including pricing in your ads and link them directly to product pages to simplify purchasing. Tailor your ads to match the festive theme, using custom carousel ads with relevant text and highlighting the end date to encourage prompt action.

You can also use Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter to enhance your reach. Instagram’s visual appeal is perfect for showcasing festive collections, while Facebook’s targeted ads and community features help you connect with specific demographics. Twitter’s real-time updates and hashtags let you join festive conversations and increase visibility. Combining these social media strategies with discovery ads provides a well-rounded approach to attracting and converting customers effectively.

How Can You Keep Existing Customers Engaged While Attracting New Ones?

Every D2C brand has a unique audience that it serves. Attracting new customers is just one part of the equation; keeping existing customers engaged is equally essential. Since they’re already familiar with your products and services, they’re more likely to be receptive to your marketing efforts. If any of them had a less-than-ideal experience, offering them discounts or coupons can help win them back.

Analysing past purchase records is crucial. Understanding previous buying trends and festive demand can help you tailor your advertising strategy to meet current needs. Focusing on what’s worked well before and addressing any previous issues can create a more effective and personalised marketing approach that resonates with new and returning customers.

How Do You Handle Bulk Orders and Returns Efficiently?

You will see a rise in orders during the festive season. It’s essential to be ready to manage bulk sales and return orders efficiently to keep operations running smoothly. The festive rush might leave you no time to account for the return orders. However, not accounting for them in your books might make managing inventory challenging.

If you’re not equipped to handle bulk orders, you risk having orders pile up, leading to missed deliveries or delays. This, in turn, might increase the return orders. So, you must prepare yourself and your infrastructure to enhance operational efficiency and deliver timely orders.

How Can Festive Bundles Boost Sales?

Boost your sales this festive season by creating special product bundles. Group related items together and give these bundles a unique and memorable name to catch customers’ attention. For example, if you sell beauty products, you might create a “Holiday Glam Pack” with a selection of your best-selling items.

Offering bundles makes your products more appealing and encourages customers to buy more at once. This helps increase the total value of each purchase, leading to higher sales during the festive season.

What Are the Best Ways to Optimise Mid-Funnel Campaigns?

Run mid-funnel campaigns focused on landing page views (LPV) three to five days before your sale to maximise sales. These campaigns should be optimised to drive traffic to your landing page at a lower cost, ensuring you reach potential customers who are interested but haven’t made a purchase yet.

Create ads that tease your sale or showcase full-priced items with a “Coming Soon” message. This builds anticipation and encourages users to visit your landing page once the sale starts.

Make sure to exclude audiences who have previously engaged with your brand to focus on reaching new customers. This strategy helps you attract fresh prospects and avoid wasting resources on those already familiar with your offerings. On platforms like Facebook and Instagram, you can expect typical cost-per-click (CPC) rates of around INR 4-8, making it a cost-effective way to drive engagement and sales.

Why Is Having a Brand Website Essential During Festive Sales?

The eCommerce industry is witnessing a boom as more people shop online. As a D2C brand, it is essential that you also have a brand website, as it leaves a positive impression and increases brand value. A brand’s website can be a gateway to success for your brand.

A user-friendly website with clear, straightforward, and detailed product descriptions can significantly boost sales. Besides, you must also offer multiple payment options and 24/7 customer support.

How Can Occasion-Specific Category Pages Help?

Focus on showcasing specific products and direct users to category pages tailored for the occasion, such as Durga Pooja or Diwali. Targeting traffic to these pages makes it easier for customers to find what they want during particular festivals.

Tailor your audience targeting based on the popularity of these occasions in different regions. For example, Durga Pooja is widely celebrated in Eastern states, while Diwali is popular in the North.

Use ad formats to drive users to category pages, such as multi-product videos or slideshows. These formats can effectively capture attention and guide users to relevant sections of your site.

You can also enhance the shopping experience by showing related products at the bottom of each product page. This increases the likelihood of users exploring more items during their visit, boosting engagement and potential sales.

How Can You Target High-Value Products During Festivals?

Festive seasons often prompt customers to spend more on high-value items. To capitalise on this trend, use segmentation or filtering techniques to highlight these premium products on your website.

Rather than focusing on low-priced items, direct your efforts towards promoting high-value products. Create dedicated sets or collections of these high-ticket items and feature them prominently in your sales campaigns.

Utilise “Value Optimisation” strategies to boost the Average Order Value (AOV). This approach ensures that you drive traffic and maximise Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) by encouraging customers to invest in higher-value purchases.

How Should Discounts and Coupons Be Used Effectively?

The festive season is the time to generate revenue and grow business. However, many sellers also offer discounts and coupons to increase engagement, attract new customers, and expand their customer base to make the most of the festive season. Boost your festive sales using personalised coupon codes such as DIWALI40. These codes resonate with the occasion and create a sense of urgency.

Display these coupon codes prominently on your website’s top banner and product pages to ensure they catch customers’ attention. Additionally, feature them in your ad creatives to drive higher transaction rates. Festive seasons are prime times for customers seeking discounts. You can boost sales, attract new customers, and enhance overall satisfaction by offering strategic promotions and well-placed discounts.

Optimise Your Festive Fulfillment with Shiprocket

Managing order fulfilment becomes crucial and challenging as the festive season brings a surge in online shopping. Shiprocket, a leading third-party logistics (3PL) provider, can significantly ease this process. By partnering with Shiprocket, you can access their advanced technology and experienced infrastructure to streamline your fulfillment process.

Shiprocket handles key logistics tasks such as picking, packing, shipping, and delivery, allowing you to focus on your core business activities. Their efficient systems also manage returns, ensuring a hassle-free experience for you and your customers. This means you can concentrate on implementing your festive marketing strategies, enhancing customer engagement, and boosting sales without being bogged down by operational issues.

With Shiprocket’s support, you can confidently navigate the busy festive period, knowing that your fulfillment needs are in expert hands. This partnership helps you deliver a smooth, satisfying customer experience while ensuring your business runs efficiently during peak times.

Summing Up

India is the land of festivals and festive times, impacting the country’s economy. Besides, consumers’ religious beliefs also play a crucial role in buying and selling goods during the festive season. Thus, the festive season is the most anticipated period for D2C brands. This creates opportunities to boost sales, generate more revenue, and elevate your business to new heights.