If you’re anything like us, your inbox is starting to flood with messages like, “Only 10 weekends until Santa arrives!”
For the folks at Scentre Group, owner and operators of 42 Westfield destinations across Australia and New Zealand, including BrandSpace, its in-house media and marketing division, that’s not news. They think about the festive season all year round.
We sat down with Scentre Group’s Head of BrandSpace New Zealand, Richelle Scott to hear some insight into how customers are navigating holiday shopping and traditions in 2024.
Q. The Season for Westfield is all about making it your own – do you have any special Christmas rituals?
A. My biggest ritual and one of my favourite parts of the holidays is getting to meticulously curate the menu for the big day. In my household, I am the planner and buyer for the whole Christmas feast, plus the food for the smaller events in the lead up.
It’s not just the food though, I am the chief buying officer for all gifts, whether it’s for aunties, nephews, the sister-in-law, and some treats for myself of course!
My list starts to build early October. Having the privilege of working above Westfield Newmarket, my lunchtimes are often spent browsing, sometimes buying, but always updating my list. Then the real fun begins in November in the lead up to Black Friday.
Q. What makes this such an important season?
A: Our Westfield destinations are true community hubs. During the festive season they transform into spaces to experience the joy of Christmas. From Santa Photos to parades to festive experiences created with our brand partners, every detail is focused on not just making Christmas time easier for our customers, but genuinely magical.
It’s part of the reason why Westfield is attracting more customers to spend their time with us, which is of course brilliant for our partners1.
There is however a myth that the Christmas-shopping season is a short window of frenzied buying. While that’s true for a small percentage of people in the last week of December, most of our customers are more planned and buy across the full quarter. By the time Black Friday comes around, the Season of Westfield has been in full swing for weeks.
Q. You talk about a 3-month period, can you break it down to the key moments?
A: We have certainly seen the season extending over time. The starting line is October, when nearly half of our customers have started their shopping2.
In November, customer visits and sales rise significantly, with a spike at Black Friday – not just the day, but the week surrounding the event3. Then as our customers carefully check their lists twice, December trends upwards right through Boxing Day4..
With household budgets front of mind this year, planning becomes crucial. In 2024, we expect our customers will be more prepared for Christmas than ever before. The main driver for this is what we like to call seasonal generosity; no matter how tough times are, it’s human nature to spend for others, more than ourselves.
At the back end of the season is the back-to-school period where compromise is again rarely an option and the new year truly starts in earnest.
Q. Why would we need to start thinking about Christmas now?
A. When it comes to Christmas gifting, physical retail shopping at Westfield isn’t just a buying channel, it’s the main source of inspiration for customers5.
There is intrinsic value in priming potential customers in the lead up to Christmas. We give brands and retailers that opportunity, with each and every screen in New Zealand available to buy programmatically, including large format hero SuperScreens.
Understandably the Season for Westfield is a peak time for advertisers. With an increased visitation and the receptive mindset of a seasonal shopper we traditionally see a surge in demand for our digital inventory.
Q Any last thoughts to share with our readers?
A. At Scentre Group we spend a lot of time and energy learning as much as possible about our Westfield customers, and we’ve studied their preferences, behaviours and sentiment for the holiday season.
We’ve identified six personas that our partners can use to plan and buy a customised suite of solutions this Christmas. Each persona buys differently, makes decisions differently and activates at different times. So, understanding which persona is the key audience for your brand can really help find efficient ways to influence that customer during Christmas.
Q It sounds like you have the season all wrapped up Richelle!
A. This is such a huge season for us and the momentum only builds from here. It’s fun to see the campaigns that got in early start to take shape. We’ve been prepping for months, but now the magic begins!
References:
1 Source: Scentre Group Half Year Results 2024
2 Source: Westfield Customer Research Community Christmas Sentiment study 2023 NZ n=176
3 Sources: Scentre Group Turnover, for the FY 2023 ;. Typical month includes Jan – Oct 2023. Scentre Group Customer Visits for the FY 2023, New Zealand.
4 Source: Scentre Group Customer Visits for the FY 2023, New Zealand. Typical month includes Jan – Nov 2023.
5 Source: Westfield Customer Research Gifting study 2024 NZ n=292
6 Source: Westfield Customer Research Community Christmas Sentiment study 2023 NZ n=189
