Collinson Valuedynamx expects White Friday 2021 to show a return to peak spend through traditional retail categories despite a recent spike in travel-based spend
Dubai, UAE – gulftech : In what has been an unusual year where different trends and behaviours have emerged, early year-on-year spending patterns indicate consumer spend this White Friday will exceed previous years, according to Collinson Valuedynamx. With competition greater than ever, Valuedynamx urges retailers to align with travel reward programmes to drive incremental spending over peak periods based on spending insights over the past year.
Valuedynamx’s insights give retailers an early indication of consumer shopping trends across financial services and travel reward programmes ahead of one of the busiest times of the year, White Friday. The insights show electricals will, once again, be popular in 2021, with spend increasing by 3% compared to last year – or an incredible 70% vs 2019. It also shows that, compared with this time in 2020, there has been a 36% increase in Entertainment & Leisure spending and a 20% increase in Food & Drink spending. This increase has come hand-in-hand with a rise in global travel, with travel bookings showing an increase of 189% year-on-year, driving both direct spending and associated travel purchases. With pent up travel demand and restrictions easing, there has been an increase in travel bookings outside of the usual peak months of January and February. Heading towards White Friday, spend on travel has levelled off and hasnow focused back on retail categories – great news for retailers at a peak period of consumer spend.
Already, Valuedynamx has seen an increase in spending from reward programme users across its platforms of 26% YoY and reports that the number of active shoppers on these same platforms is up 7% YoY – or, perhaps more pressingly, up by 2% compared with ‘pre-Covid’ numbers from 2019. Last year, the company saw a 10% increase in unique shoppers on White Friday, compared to 2019, and these early signs show this year could exceed that figure.
“With the busiest shopping period of the year around the corner, bargain hunters will be on the lookout for the best value on their purchases that go beyond discounts. A recent report from Redseer Consulting projects that online purchases during the sale season in the MENA will reach $6bn, up 30% from last year. With travel recovery on the rise, retailers have a unique opportunity to align with travel programmes and position themselves much better to attract customers by offering rewards beyond pure price reductions if they use this approach early on in their strategy. Retailers who offer extra value through increased earning within their favourite loyalty program can differentiate their marketing strategies on White Friday, which is one of the most challenging times of year to stand out. At a time of year when competition for that audience is at an all-time high, this is particularly important”, said Sanjit Gill – General Manager – Middle East at Collinson.
The data comes from Valuedynamx’s global network of loyalty commerce platforms, which provides access to over 400 million loyalty programme members across 28 online shopping portals. Valuedynamx’s extensive global network enables consumers to earn and spend loyalty currency linked to leading travel and financial services reward programmes – connecting customers to branded engagement opportunities and providing unique data insights into how people are spending.
