This Holiday Season’s Consumer Insights You Should Take Note of for Next Year

Once December is over, Santa heads back to the North Pole, decorations go back in storage, and people start bracing themselves for a new year and a new round of holidays. As a result, it’s an excellent chance to evaluate consumer insights throughout the last month of the year and shortly before to determine what could benefit the fashion industry’s upcoming holiday season. So let’s discuss some 2022 holiday season consumer insights to keep in mind for your clothing store for 2023.

Customers love free perks

There’s no doubt customers love freebies, but they can be even more enticing during the holiday season when many spend more than average on gifts and outings. If you have a clothing store, there are several freebies you can consider offering customers.

Free shipping is significant, but you want to make the limit manageable for customers. For example, consider making it proportionate to the pricing of your clothing. Another free perk to consider is a gift-wrapping service. For instance, you could offer wrapping paper that applies to several different December holidays, so whether your customers want to order online or in-store, they can have the items wrapped.

Shoppers want quality for what they’re spending

You need to sell quality items to have happy customers. For example, if you’re selling the Bella + Canvas unisex sponge fleece raglan sweatshirt, the price should be correct, the condition pristine, and the quality high. Shoppers want to know that when they buy a piece of clothing through your business, they’re not wasting their money on a product that will embarrass them if they give it to another person. It’s up to you to make sure they’re satisfied.

People want to deal with people (when they need to)

Everyone is usually attached to technology throughout the day, so when many have to place an order and need to ask a question, they typically want to be able to reach a human being to get an answer. Even if you’re a small clothing business, there are still many ways you can allow customers to get through to you–including email, phone, and even live chat–but when you or an employee respond, it shouldn’t come in the form of an automated response. No one wants to feel like they’re number x in a long line of hundreds or thousands of other customers. They want to feel like they and their purchase matter.

Post which customer service options you offer and during what hours they’re available to shoppers on your website and social media sites. Therefore, allowing customers to plan to contact your clothing business during that time and be able to reach a helpful live person.

They want to know what they’re getting

Many shoppers will significantly make a relaxed purchase for holiday fashion gifts if prices increase for several other things, like food. It means they will shop carefully and likely only buy if they’re sure it will be a perfect gift the recipient would love.

If you have a brick-and-mortar store, prepare to answer questions about everything from the fabric to how to wash the item, just in case the customer asks. For your online clothing store, provide all the relevant details in each product description, including the fabric composition and sizing.

Customers want to get their shopping done early

Although some shoppers start or finish their shopping list in December, according to Statista.com, 56% of shoppers in 2022 intended to begin their shopping in October, which is an 11% increase for the same month from 2021. For November 2022, the number decreased to 35% compared to 42% from the year before. Only 9% intended to start their shopping in December 2022.

Yes, “intending” is the operative word, meaning not everyone probably started when they wanted to. However, the intention remains, meaning you must prepare as a clothing business owner. For example, you can’t expect to start putting out holiday attire and gifts at the end of November and feel like you could reach as many potential customers as you would have if you put the merchandise out earlier.

Therefore, the earlier you get your holiday clothing store plans, the better it could be for your business. However, you also want to ensure you can finish the planning while it continues to inch closer to the holiday season. Ideally, you should start working on your strategy at the beginning of summer and get your wholesale clothing orders in as soon as possible.

You need to use social media

When people are stuck for gift ideas, nowadays, they look to social media sites to get guidance about what they should get for everyone on their list. But, unfortunately, if you’re not posting on social media and no one (or not many others) is sharing your clothing items and deals, it will take a lot of work for customers to find out what you have to offer.

Make more of an effort to reach out to your customers via social media, even if it’s to post a short video, a quick (well-written) blog post, or a social media post. It can update your customers about what you’re doing and give shoppers ideas for getting their loved ones or what to treat themselves to for the holiday season.

Stay calm if you’re struggling with the planning stages. If you need help figuring out what customers want while they’re holiday shopping, you have to ask them, and social media is a great tool to do that. Either ask them outright in a post or do a poll (i.e., ask if they would use a gift wrapping service if offered) and find out directly from them what they want. It also helps keep you connected to your customers, shows them that you put love and care into your business, and indicates that you want to help enhance their shopping experience.