How Retailers Can Use AI to Exceed Their Holiday Online Sales Projections
As eCommerce continues to grow, AI is emerging as a critical tool for retailers looking to exceed the projected 8% holiday surge in online sales. By leveraging AI optimization tools like Claritas’ AI Personalization, marketers can dynamically adjust campaigns in real-time, maximizing engagement and ROI. This approach not only enhances holiday season performance but also helps retailers optimize strategies year-round for other key shopping periods like Labor Day and Fourth of July.
Although online sales in November are projected to fall 2% below last year, December is expected to see an 18% increase over 2023, contributing to a strong end-of-year performance (Signifyd). Last year, shopping between the five-day period between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday, also known as Cyber Five, accounted for over 16% of total U.S. holiday e-commerce sales and is projected to grow by 8% this year (eMarketer), reflecting strong consumer interest in online shopping despite economic uncertainties.
While this is good news for online retailers, data also shows shoppers exercising restraint at the checkout and are trading down and opting for bargains over premium items. August 2024 data indicates that while overall e-commerce spending increased by 11% and order volume grew by 15%, the average order value dropped by 3%. This suggests consumers are still spending but perhaps more cautiously, signaling the need for retailers to appeal strategically this holiday season. [Signifyd. Holiday Season Data Tracker]
Holiday Shopping and the Impact of AI
As the data above suggests, retail marketers must refine their strategies this holiday season to align with consumers who are looking for bargains and discounts over premium items. With shoppers feeling cautious about the economy and being selective in their purchases, marketers need to look beyond simple data analytics and invest in solutions that are based on AI—particularly AI optimization solutions—that can quickly adjust campaigns, enhance customer experiences, and drive sales during the high-stakes holiday shopping period.
For example, by leveraging Claritas’ AI Creative Optimization, a powerful solution within the AI Optimization Platform, marketers can customize hundreds, even thousands of creative ads in real time by learning which message elements resonate with specific audiences. Marketers can now more easily know which channel and touchpoint is driving engagement, boosting ROI, and increasing profitability. This real-time personalization and continuous content refinement is something most marketers will want to capitalize on this holiday shopping period.
Here are some ways Claritas’ new AI Marketing Optimization Platform can help optimize your marketing initiatives this quarter and beyond:
1. AI-driven Audience Optimization
As a retail marketer, ensuring your campaigns reach the right audiences—especially during the Black Friday/Cyber Monday rush—is crucial for maximizing sales growth. AI-driven audience optimization can help you do just that. With tools like Claritas’ AI Audience Optimization, you can target and optimize audience selection or leverage pre-built models and bespoke segments of consumers who are “most likely to purchase” or “most likely to click,” allowing for more precise budget allocation and improved ROI. By analyzing vast data, AI dynamically refines your targeting throughout the campaign, helping you connect with the most receptive audiences and boost effectiveness by up to 15%. This ensures your marketing efforts are highly relevant and impactful during peak shopping periods.
2. AI Creative Optimization
Retail marketer also need campaigns that dynamically adapt to maximize performance. With Claritas’ AI Personalization, which represents the next evolution of Dynamic Creative Optimization (DCO), we ensure your creative and messaging are continually optimized across every channel—audio, digital, social, email, video, and even traditional outlets like TV and radio. This advanced approach allows for real-time adjustments that drive better engagement and conversions across all marketing channels.
3. AI Media Mix Optimization
Claritas AI Media Optimization goes a step further by optimizing the media mix itself. By analyzing audience response and message performance, we fine-tune your marketing efforts for maximum impact. By constantly refining your media mix throughout each campaign, the AI delivers iterations that boost engagement and conversions, ensuring each campaign hits the mark and delivers maximum ROI at every touchpoint, where it matters most. This results in stronger customer relationships, increased brand advocacy, and ultimately, a boost to your bottom line.
4. AI Measurement
As a retail marketer aiming for the best campaign outcomes during the Black Friday/Cyber Monday rush, you will finally need accurate attribution to ensure maximum effectiveness. Claritas’ AI Marketing Optimization Platform gives you transparency into what’s working across audiences, channels, and messages, while continually improving areas that aren’t performing. By using data-driven, real-time adjustments, the platform optimizes your return on ad spend and enhances campaign performance. With detailed reporting and AI-powered optimizations, you can trust your campaigns are always evolving for the best possible results.
Request a demo today and see how Claritas can help you achieve your marketing goals.
Examples of AI Creative Optimization in the Real-World
Omaha Steaks exemplified AI’s impact when they reached out to MMA Global and Claritas to leverage Claritas’ AI Personalization, achieving a 145% lift in performance over baseline conversions and a 23% gain in effectiveness compared to a control group. They also saw an extraordinary 38,863% increase in appointments booked, demonstrating AI’s ability to radically enhance campaign outcomes. By using Claritas’ AI tools, Omaha Steaks boosted engagement and drove measurable success with highly targeted, optimized marketing efforts. These results highlight AI’s transformative potential to refine customer interactions and maximize profitability.
Also, Kroger’s success with Claritas’ AI Personalization is a prime example of how AI can help optimize key performance metrics, by refining templates, images, and headlines. By using Claritas’ AI Personalization, Kroger saw a 259% increase in page visits, 42% higher click-through rates, 17% more transactions, and a 16% rise in revenue. Leveraging AI Personalization could ensure that your campaigns are similarly optimized this busy holiday season, driving meaningful results and maximizing sales potential. Learn more about AI Personalization.
In summary, AI is a powerful tool to enhance customer interactions and significantly boost profitability, not just during the holiday season, but year-round. While shopping between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday accounts for over 16% of total U.S. holiday e-commerce sales, the remaining shopping happens during other holidays like Labor Day and the Fourth of July. By adopting AI solutions, like Claritas’ advanced AI Optimization platform, retailers can optimize campaigns for these key periods, driving traffic and maximizing ROI throughout the year—not just during Q4—ensuring consistent growth across all channels.