Winning Q4! This type of product has been sold out across the board, and sellers' performance has soared

As the peak season is underway, the Halloween shopping craze is coming to an end. Overseas Black Friday and Christmas shopping seasons are seamlessly connected, and shopping enthusiasm has soared. In the fourth quarter, which is crucial for cross-border e-commerce , some brands have continued to lead by relying on new marketing methods. Outdoor furniture, which was once invested by SHEIN, sold well and earned another $50 million, with its valuation soaring nearly 10 times.

Black Friday Christmas shopping season countdown, peripheral product orders surge

After about a month of peak sales, Halloween-related products are gradually coming to an end, with Black Friday and Christmas shopping seasons approaching.

In fact, as early as about a week ago, many sellers reported that Christmas products had been oversold. Recently, the oversold situation is still continuing. One seller said that Christmas-related products are very popular, and orders increase almost every day, and they are expected to be out of stock tomorrow.

According to a survey by the National Retail Federation, European and American consumers are enthusiastic about buying during the holiday season, and overall spending on Halloween will increase from $8 billion last year to $10.14 billion, an increase of more than $2 billion. Christmas, one of the most important holidays in the United States, will also see spending higher than last year.

Due to the pandemic, the purchasing patterns of European and American consumers have undergone profound and complex changes from Black Friday to the Christmas shopping season last year. This year, e-commerce is still the main purchasing channel. The survey report of recommendation platform Outbrain (click to read the original text to download the full report) shows that during the period from Black Friday to Cyber ​​Monday, most consumers plan to shop online and in physical stores, followed by a considerable proportion of consumers who choose to shop only online.

More consumers buying online may boost cross-border sales. The fourth quarter of each year is a critical period for cross-border e-commerce to boost sales. According to previous years, peak season orders generally increase by about three times compared to the first three quarters. Some big sellers in the industry also rely on the holiday peak season to boost their annual revenue.

Take Lechuang as an example. Its revenue in 2020 was 1.936 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 97.96%. Its revenue in the fourth quarter was as high as 717 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 162%. In the first half of this year, Lechuang's revenue was 1.397 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 120.68%. Its independent site sales increased by 366%, and its performance remained impressive.

SHEIN increases investment, Outer raises another $50 million, DTC brands are really good

Apart from Leckey, other cross-border e-commerce platforms may not have very good performance. In the first half of this year, several cross-border e-commerce platforms tightened their policies accordingly, and some top e-commerce accounts were blocked, and the brands were also affected, causing considerable losses.

An industry insider said that under the brand ban, big sellers that grew up relying on platform dividends had no power to fight back, and some even had to declare bankruptcy. In comparison, other people's DTC brands are very popular, and it is urgent for some people to establish their own brand channels as soon as possible.

According to consumer research firm GfK, DTC brands are becoming the mainstream model in the US e-commerce market in the past six months. Six out of every 10 US consumers (62%) have purchased DTC brand products. About nine out of ten (88%) of them are satisfied with the products they purchased.

Benefiting from this, the outdoor home DTC brand Outer recently completed its B round of financing, with a financing amount of US$50 million and a valuation increase of nearly 10 times. In June 2020, the company completed an angel round of financing of US$4.3 million, and in January this year, it received another US$10.5 million in A round of financing, led by Sequoia Capital China Fund and SHEIN.

Since the beginning of this year, more DTC brands have also experienced an explosion in popularity and have continued to receive financing.

In March this year , swimwear brand CUPSHE completed financing of over 100 million yuan; in May, light luxury silk brand Lilysilk completed a round A+ financing of tens of millions of yuan; in June, pet fresh food and snacks DTC brand FurFur Land completed a Pre-A round of financing of tens of millions of yuan; in July, children's clothing DTC brand PatPat completed US$510 million in C and D series financing; in August, PatPat completed US$160 million in D2 round financing.

In the hot cross-border e-commerce market, DTC brands are becoming more and more popular. I believe that with their product advantages and brand marketing strategies, these brands will also achieve impressive sales performance during this shopping season.

Seizing the opportunity in Q4, Outbrain helps cross-border e-commerce achieve explosive sales during the peak season

How can you rely on your own brand like these big sellers and seize the opportunities of the Q4 shopping season? Obviously, good marketing methods and marketing insights are a powerful tool.

Making full use of Black Friday and Christmas marketing insights can accurately reach the target consumer group to the greatest extent, strengthen consumers' willingness to buy brands, and ultimately promote sales conversion. The " Consumer Insights and Digital Strategies for the 2021 Holiday Shopping Season " guide released by Outbrain provides the cross-border e-commerce industry with insights into overseas consumer behavior and marketing methods for the Black Friday, Cyber ​​Monday, and Christmas shopping seasons, helping brands and sellers win in Q4.

According to Outbrain's " Consumer Insights and Digital Strategies for the 2021 Holiday Shopping Season ", consumers actually care more about delivery speed when shopping online. Compared with free shipping or shipping discounts, consumers hope to receive the goods as soon as possible. Therefore, brands can emphasize delivery speed in advertising as a marketing strategy.

During this shopping season, brands should also focus on Generation Z consumers. Compared with other age groups, consumers aged 18-35, represented by Generation Z and millennials, are more likely to increase their shopping budgets this year. Therefore, when doing marketing promotion, it is better to focus on this group and add elements that meet the interests of this group in advertising design.

As well as preparing for Black Friday marketing, brands need to pay attention to the following points:

1. Optimize the shopping experience on mobile phones: Mobile phones have become the fastest growing online shopping platform.

2. Attract consumers in multiple time periods: In addition to Black Friday, Cyber ​​Monday and Christmas, you should also pay attention to attracting seasonal consumers at more times. Marketers are advised to start interacting with consumers in October and grasp the peak shopping nodes in Q4. If you need to promote new products, you should conduct on-site interactions with lower CPC before Black Friday to attract new customers, and Black Friday activities will attract them to buy again.

3. Focus on global performance: Cross-border brands can use location-based positioning to penetrate the markets with the highest cost efficiency and engagement potential.

4. Promote creative ads based on product categories: Different categories of products have different consumer groups, and brands should analyze the specific situation. Pictures are one of the elements that attract consumers. For example, the picture styles of the following categories help to leave a memory for consumers.

(Image source: Outbrain)

Marketing determines whether consumers buy. In shaping the consumer's shopping journey, brands must first attract target consumers and use advertising content that suits their interests and effective pricing strategies to attract new customers who are interested in the brand as early as possible; secondly, they must increase brand consideration by building brand stories to cultivate consumer awareness and increase consumer engagement; finally , they must focus on brand activation , using appealing language and interactive advertising formats to direct traffic to specific product pages to increase sales.

As a leading recommendation platform, Outbrain can use its interest analysis and positioning technology to help advertisers attract target audiences on overseas top media websites; at the same time, it can increase brand consideration and conversion rate with rich native advertising formats. According to the results of this consumer survey, most consumers said that watching product introduction videos would affect their purchasing decisions. Therefore, brands can make full use of video materials and carefully plan and execute video ads to promote their products. Outbrain video advertising solutions can be applied to the complete "attract-consider-convert" consumer shopping journey to promote sales conversion.

For consumers, they prefer to collect brand information before Black Friday, and product quality and price are important factors to consider. Most people will prepare shopping lists in the first two weeks of Black Friday, and it is expected that fashion, travel, and beauty products will usher in a substantial increase.

After the Black Friday advertising and marketing, you need to focus on the Christmas marketing layout. The specific methods can refer to Black Friday, but you need to pay attention to showing the festive atmosphere of Christmas to show timeliness and relevance. You can use pictures and texts to emphasize the significance of Christmas to your brand and increase consumers' interest in your products.

(Image source: Outbrain)

To further increase sales in Q4, it is essential to fully understand consumer demand and make good marketing plans. Outbrain provides brands and marketing practitioners with a guide called "Consumer Insights and Digital Strategies for the 2021 Holiday Shopping Season", which details European and American consumer surveys and marketing insights for the Black Friday and Christmas shopping seasons, helping brands achieve explosive sales during the peak season. Hurry up and click on the "entrance" to download it.

DTC brands, Q4, boom in sales