By Aref Yehia, Head of Retail & E-commerce, Global Business Solutions, METAP at TikTok

Aref Yehia, Head of Retail & E-commerce, Global Business Solutions, METAP at Tiktok

It is no secret that the Holy Month of Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr celebrations present retail brands with an incredible opportunity to get shoppers excited to connect, shop, and discover their products during a time that is known as big occasions for shopping and gifting. It is also a time for marketers and advertisers to flex their creative muscles to drive meaningful connections around their purpose with their consumers during this cultural calendar moment.

Maximizing your brand’s online presence during this season works through leveraging a blend of organic beats, paid peaks, and authentic partnerships. These would ensure your brand stays dynamic and connected to your online community that is constantly discovering and participating in trends and looking for the very best deals.

Entertaining content keeps shoppers coming back

Content, but personalized, in short-form and in abundance.  With increased screen time and online shopping now reaching an all-time high, retail brands have a high exposure to users’ attention so make it worth their while and engaging enough for them, so that they keep coming back for more!  Content is more than a moon graphic – content is about knowing what resonates with your audience and packaging it in the most relevant and inspiring way.    

However, while content may be king, context overpowers it, meaning brands need to craft their message to fit the audience they are addressing on the chosen digital platform. For example, TikTok is a highly creative and joyful space, which our community describes as making them feel “energized, entertained, comfortable and confident” when using the platform, so retail brands must ensure their content resonates with our highly engaged audience for business success.

Hype the Haul

The online community loves a good shopping haul, and your customers love to show it off even more. Whether you are hyping discounts or an all-in-one shopping experience, showcase the breadth of your offerings and the excitement that comes with it by turning customers into your biggest brand advocates. Invite users to share their product wish lists. Not only will this increase basket size, but it will also be crucial for the research phase of the consumer purchase journey.

Gamify your offers to increase conversion

Make your customers work for upcoming deals – by that we mean gamifying offers to increase conversions. For instance, get your customers to play with your very own branded gamified content and if they participate correctly, they can be awarded with a discount code through coupons, which we have launched recently on TikTok. Make the game go viral by collaborating with influential individuals in your space and supercharge it through solutions like branded hashtag challenges or branded effects, leveraging augmented reality.

Enable retail dreams with helpful tips & tricks

While many of us got to experience WFH over the last year, we also turned our heads to DIY and discovered tips and tricks such as ‘how to wear a specific clothing item’ in a diverse way or even repurpose it to not look like the same outfit again. There are many ways to go around informing your audience of these handy tips and tricks – for example, our TikTok community loves to recreate their favorite finds across retail – from fashion to beauty and beyond. 

Help your customers see a new everyday by letting your brand’s initiatives this Ramadan be the creative inspiration for them, making their retail dreams come true. Livestreaming leading to online shopping has become a preferred method to deliver on this. Live is one of the newest tools in the TikTok Arsenal – it enables brands to take users behind the scenes and into the heart of an event in an excitingly interactive way. Going live on TikTok is unlike any other live format because it means that you can let the entire country know what you are up to, not just the people following your brand. 

Here, we have touched on just some of the tactics retail brands can look to leverage as part of their Ramadan and Eid season.  However, retailers must remember that despite a challenging time last year, consumers are excited and optimistic for this year.  Today, the connected consumer is price conscious and is heavily reliant on their smartphones to learn, explore and buy. Brands investing in the right mobile-first experiences will evidently win the Ramadan and Eid shoppers.