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Hello Christmas! How to have a winning winter with a little help from Tesco

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas… or it will do very soon, at least. This year’s Tesco Christmas event will get under way early November, but that doesn’t mean that consumer-packaged goods (CPG) brands have run out of time to embrace the festive spirit.

As always, customers tend to be very focused on key mindsets and moments at this time of year, and understanding what those are is crucial to the success of any media plan. In this blog, we’ll look at some of the latest customer trends that brands need to prepare for this festive period.

The overarching mindset: getting ahead to spread the cost

Just as Tesco starts its Christmas planning early, so too will many customers this year. With shoppers continuing to worry about inflation, getting ahead will be the priority – with many preferring to spread the cost rather than building up to one large bill. Clearly, that has implications from a media planning perspective too, giving brands a much longer timeframe in which to engage and inspire customers over the coming weeks.

Shoppers have plenty to think about beyond finances at this time of year, of course. In addition to the big day itself, there are school holidays, parties, travel, and time off to take into account. As well as providing plenty of excitement, those factors can conspire to make Christmas a fairly stressful time of year – meaning that brands can score a lot of points by making things simple and hassle-free.

Midwinter moments: the themes to tap into

Packed with events and social gatherings as they are, the final few weeks of the year give brands a raft of opportunities to engage with shoppers:

• Christmas gifting - including stocking fillers, party gifts, Christmas presents, and pet treats. Key categories tend to include beers, wines, and sprits (BWS), health and beauty (H&B), and impulse buys.

• Party planning - covering items like canapes and cocktails, decorations, sweet treats, snacks, and hot chocolate. Typically most relevant to fresh, frozen, BWS, and household brands.

• Christmas dinner - where, as well as the mains and vegetables, desserts, trimmings, condiments, and wine all play a key role. An ideal theme for grocery, fresh, frozen, and BWS brands to address.

• “Twixmas” - those quiet days in between Christmas and New Year’s when it’s all about using up leftovers and building up to the onset of 2024. Grocery, fresh, frozen, H&B, BWS, and impulse brands all have a role to play here.

From planning ahead to last minute shopping: the key dates to be aware of

As well as knowing what customers are thinking about, it can also be helpful to know when they’re trending towards certain themes. The Tesco Christmas Event runs from 6th November through to 31st December and, at a high level, we divide that into three periods: “planning ahead” (6th – 26th November), “feeling festive” (27th November – 10th December), and “last minute shopping” (11th – 31st December).

For those shoppers who receive a monthly salary, paydays in that period are likely to fall on Wednesday 29th November and Wednesday 20th December. Children are expected to break up from school any time from 18th December onwards.

Shoppers also tend towards specific purchases across that eight Trade Week (TW) period:

• TW 37-38 – BWS offers and gift sets are the focus as present planning begins.
• TW39 – Black Friday brings electronics, toys, and home into the spotlight.
• TW40 – “getting ahead” starts in earnest, with store cupboard items the priority.
• TW41 – the start of party season means multipacks, sharing snacks, and drinks.
• TW42 – as the school term ends, attention shifts to Christmas foods and baking.
• TW43 – it’s all about fresh food, final gifts, and festive starters, sides, and breakfasts.
• TW44 – leftover accompaniments soon give way to New Year’s nibbles and drinks.

The customer priority: responsible celebrations – but celebrations all the same

While the cost of living crisis looms large above Christmas this year, it doesn’t mean that shoppers aren’t planning to celebrate. Financial concerns might temper the festive spirit, but we still see plenty of reasons for brands to be optimistic: three-quarters (72%) of shoppers still say that they’re tempted to spend more on their groceries than they would ordinarily, for instance.

Even when it comes to money-saving behaviours, there are clear opportunities to engage. For instance:

• 75% of customers will be on the lookout for promotions within Christmas event lines, making those a great place to be seen.
• 71% say they’re likely to buy products that they wouldn’t normally, speaking to the need for inspiration.
• 45% take advantage of Christmas offers in order to stock up on products they’ll use later in the year, creating a clear message for long-life brands.[1]

Looking ahead: planning for Christmas 2024

While the focus right now might be on putting the finishing touches on activity for this Christmas, it’s never too early to start looking ahead to the following year. Many of the biggest media opportunities surrounding the annual Christmas Tesco event need to be booked in the summer – meaning that the earlier you plan, the bigger the potential.

If you are starting to consider your plans for 2024, here are three things to know about how the Tesco Media & Insight Platform can help you win:

• Tesco is the people’s champion at Christmas
  More customers, spending more, more often. Almost 20m more customers chose to visit tesco.com between November and December 2022, and stores experienced a 138% uplift in sales. Tesco is ¬the place to reach customers at scale.
• Our extensive media suite enables pinpoint targeting
  Reach is important at Christmas, but so is precision. With a media portfolio that includes partnerships, sponsorships, and a wealth of focused opportunities both in-store and online, Tesco gives you the ability to zero in on the people who buy your products.
• A comprehensive toolkit makes media planning easy
  The Tesco Christmas event comes with its own media toolkit, one that helps brands align their creative with the high-level Tesco strategy. As well as providing a consistent message to customers, this also helps brands to drive awareness and stand out.

[1] All data sourced from IGD Research, 2023