During the holiday season, Singapore gets quite (as most of the people/expats head back home or to winter countries) yet very crowded by tourists. Definitely, its a great destination for tourists all year-round, with high heat and humidity to be expected no matter which time of the year. Ever since I moved away from my home where weather gets down to -30C degree, I have not celebrated properly even if I excited about the idea of holiday season.
… Yesterday, I was passing by Orchard Shopping street, it has already transformed into a wonderland filled with spectacular lights, enchanting decorations, irresistible festive buys makes buzzing atmosphere – which leaves to me feeling homesick.
“Holidays, in and of themselves, highlight what we have and what we don’t have. People feel particularly close to loved ones that they can’t be with”. Also evoke difficult feelings for those who is at home, may find themselves “wishing that they had a different home life or wish to have something that they don’t have…like I wish I had a car” says Jessica Zucker – clinical psychologist and writer.
And one of the thing marketers are really good at taking advantage of a high commerce holiday via a promotion & sales during this emotional period. From October to December, I have received 100s of emails with sparkling banner, push notifications with attempting lower price offers, friendly invitation with my name and gift recommendations to loved ones these all increases impulse buying behaviour. Back in a days, even if I urge to buy things, my desire limited by my budget or availability & accessibility to stores. But this days, banking innovations like credit cards, ATMs, 24-hour retailing, delivery service, online shops have made it very easy for consumers like me to fulfill our desires without constraint. This has led to a splurge in impulse buying. What does this mean for marketers? It’s simply:
People see what they want and they take action without any limitation
When it comes to shopping and finding what we want, customers expect brands to return just the right results, tailored to “me” such as relevant deals and plus easy to interact. There is no surprise I ended up spending quite a lot at Amazon because of the one-click purchase. Impulse buyers like me thanked to this innovation by skipping usual boring long step online checkout process.
By end of year I have made exactly 21 purchases online and 7 purchases at stores. Yes, it helps to get through the holiday season and full-fill my desire. At the end, the pain isn’t as bad as it used to be. Specially this year, Singapore is slowly becoming my home and and being abroad is normal. But I still miss the place I called home for the first 20 years of my life.