What Drives Consumer Summer Shopping Decisions? 

As the temperature rises, so does consumer spending on summer shopping. But why? What is it about summer that makes consumers feel the need to do more and spend more? In this post, we’ll explore the key psychological factors that influence summer spending and how marketers can tap into this customer experience opportunity. 

The Sunshine Effect on Summer Shopping

Not surprisingly, sunlight has a profound impact on mood. Exposure to sunlight increases the brain’s release of the hormone serotonin, which is associated with boosting mood and helping a person feel calm and focused. Higher levels of serotonin lead consumers to feel happier, more energetic, and more willing to engage in shopping activities. Marketers can leverage this by promoting outdoor-related products and experiences. 

The Leisure of Summer 

Summer, for many, brings a more relaxed schedule. Schools are out, families take vacations, and there’s a general slowdown in commitments for many people. This leisure time increases discretionary spending. People tend to shop more when they have more free time and less structured days. Retailers can capitalize on this by offering timely promotions, vacation-related products, and summer-specific services that cater to travel and leisure activities. 

Seasonal Scarcity Affects Summer Shopping

The concept of scarcity can significantly affect consumer’s behavior. In summer, this can be seen in limited-time offers on seasonal products like swimwear, garden equipment, or holiday packages, which creates a sense of urgency. Highlighting the limited availability of these items can drive consumers to make quicker and more impulsive purchasing decisions to avoid missing out. 

Social Influences 

Summer is a season of high social activity. Barbecues, vacations, and social gatherings are frequent. This increases the influence of social proof during summer shopping. Social proof shows where consumers are more likely to purchase items that they see being enjoyed by others. Brands can enhance social selling by featuring real customer testimonials, user-generated content, and influencer partnerships. Overall, these strategies showcase their products in real life social settings.  

Maximizing Summer Shopping Opportunities

Understanding the psychological driver behind summer shopping can help businesses craft strategies that resonate with seasonal consumer moods and trends, and ultimately build sales.

To go along with our 8th Anniversary, which we are celebrating this month, here are eight marketing trends that are fast-becoming marketing must-haves. Are you taking every opportunity to build your audience?

1. Personalization

Personalization can take on many flavors. It can be as simple as including your customer’s first name in the salutation of an email. Or, a company can be very intentional about their website and lay out an easy-to-follow trail of digital breadcrumbs.

You don’t need to turn your supply chain inside out but do think about how you reach your customer at every touch point and ask, is this made for them?

2. AI

Speaking of personalization, Artificial Intelligence is going to make even more personalization options available. In fact, it already is – Amazon is a perfect example. When a customer logs into their Amazon account, the landing page is customized for them based on their past purchases and viewing history.

3. Live Streaming

Even in our hyper-connected world, people still long for connection. I think this partly explains the popularity of live streaming (also called live video). Conducting live streams with comments enabled can go a long way in building a relationship with your audience.

4. Visual Search

Human beings are visual by nature. So, it makes sense for people to want to search visually as well as with words. And the technology to do so is getting better and better.

Pinterest is a powerful example of this trend. For an interesting account of their pursuit of visual search technology (it all starts with an avocado, because of course it does), click here.

5. Voice Search

As we have talked about on this blog before, voice search is fast becoming a part of consumers’ everyday lives. Forty-one percent of adults use a voice- activated personal assistant at least once a day. Optimizing your website for voice search will become increasingly important.

6. Purpose & Emotion

The adage “people buy with their emotions and assign reasons to their actions later” is true. Nike, Tesla, Facebook. For better or worse, these companies have showed their purpose through their actions over the years. And customers have reacted.

What emotions do your customers associate with your company? What is your company’s purpose?

7. Experiential Commerce

Much has been made of the retail apocalypse. But, as TechCrunch argues, retail might not be experiencing The End so much as an inflection point.

Many wildly successful e-commerce businesses have opened physical stores in recent years – Amazon, Warby Parker, Casper, Glossier. It’s all about creating a seamless experience where a business can court a customer little by little. Retail stores are showrooms and experiences unto themselves, where customers can try before they buy.

8. Content marketing

Consider this: 47% of buyers viewed 3-5 pieces of content before engaging with a sales rep.

Content marketing isn’t going anywhere. The media market is fragmented, everyone is their own publisher. Now is the time for companies to build their own audience.

2019 will be all about a better customer experience with personalization, automation and AI-powered technology, so you need to be sure you are producing custom content to engage your targeted audience. Whether you’re considering incorporating these trends or you’ve already implemented and are evolving your use of them, we are here to help you incorporate them into your marketing plan.

Now more than ever, the process of choosing a college is rooted in digital marketing. As a prospective student, I was blasted with recruitment emails, targeted Instagram posts, and even Pandora radio ads. The sheer amount of content was overwhelming.  I was nowhere near a final decision on which school would be right for me.

A Critical Flaw

“The school will just feel right.”  I heard this phrase over and over again throughout my college search. Frankly, I thought only parents believed this outdated saying. Digital marketing made my decision process more dynamic than theirs – right?

Today, I recognize a critical flaw in the reliance on social media and online content in one’s college decision process. Social media does an exceptional job of showing us the good: what people want us to see. However, it is impossible to get a holistic view, or “feel” of anything solely through the screen of a device.

Austin City Limits

I attended an event at the University of Texas at Austin called “Best of Texas” during my senior year of high school.  Essentially, this was a massive marketing stunt – a weekend intended to persuade prospective students to accept their admission offers to UT. The Moody College of Communication held a luncheon in one of their buildings on campus. Here, the dean explained that we were eating in what was once the Austin City Limits Live studio, and that the school continues to work closely with the studio today. Sitting there opened my eyes to the opportunities that living in the city of Austin would provide. Here, I could envision a successful future for myself as a Texas Longhorn.

All One Could Truly Ask For

It is because of this experience that I stress the continued importance of traditional, in-person marketing in the college decision process. Visit a school that interests you. If you are still unsure, visit again – I did! Touring the campus and asking enrolled students about their experience first-hand allowed me to weigh pros and cons of the decision myself, not just with the help of an Instagram post.  I am beyond satisfied with my decision. My school pushes me to be the best version of myself, and that is all one could truly ask for.