Here’s some Christmas cheer: this year’s holiday sales are expected to set records, with the National Retail Federation predicting an 8.5% to 10.5% rise to as much as $859 billion this November and December, surpassing last year's 8.2% gain.
To capture a share of that pie big retailers like Macy's and Kohl's are amping up their social media marketing even as they continue to budget for large-scale anthem TV spots.
After experimenting with TikTok earlier this year, Kohl’s will host its first holiday challenge on the platform later this month. Macy’s is introducing specific social content around its new character, a blue reindeer named Tiptoe, who will appear as a balloon in the department store’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. At the same time, brands that have had a strong existing presence on TikTok, like American Eagle and Dick’s Sporting Goods, are continuing to invest in innovative social media initiatives.
“[We’ll] have quite a bit more social—that’s up a ton,” said Greg Revelle, chief marketing officer of Kohl’s, on a recent episode of Ad Age Remotely. “Consumers are just spending more and more of their time in social channels.”