Why is Easter the most disappointing retail season?
While retailers go all out for Christmas, Easter is a holiday that’s not contested in the same way. In this guest post, branding specialist Tim Riches visited Coles and Woolies, and was disappointed by what he saw.
Australians are expected to buy more than 6000 tonnes of chocolate this Easter – a forecast increase of about 5% on 2016.
The spend per family is significant with estimates between $50 and $100 on average. Just on chocolate.
But will this spending splurge result in improved connection between big retail brands and customers? For mainstream retailers at least, I doubt it.
Over the past two weeks, I investigated six different Coles and Woollies supermarkets on a quest to find the best Easter-driven brand experience. Instead of finding inspiration or joy in-store, I discovered predictable price promotions, often spread across the store in way that reduced visual and experiential impact.
you obviously haven’t seen Home Timber & Hardware’s ‘Easter Eggscavation’ 90″ TVC. Now that’s an Easter Egg hunt!
Why is Easter such a disappointing retail season? Maybe because, despite all the eggs etc and secular attempts to make it just about family get togethers, it remains primarily a religious festival. And marketers have never known what to do with religion. Secular Australia in general is a bit uneasy with what Easter actually is if you take the religion out of it, and that is reflected in the marketing.
Easter has no Christian origin,you will not find the word anywhere in the bible. The God botherers are down at Easter, because of the Crucifixion, by the time we get to the Resurrection, the weekend is almost over, and all the kids have made themselves sick on chocolate and sugar and hot crossed buns. Take this feasting day ( from the cult of Ishtar) and start showing some creativity and imagination at the retail level, and there will be discovered, a mine of unexplored Easter gold. The commercial sector will have to take the lead, as they did with Christmas. If the joy of the birth of Christ can be steered away to a fat old man in an ermine trimmed red cozy and big boots, then the rebirth of everything (including Christ) should be a doddle.
Have a look at how microcosms like the Greek Orthodox celebrate Easter- more than just (red) eggs, there’s ingredients for specific recipes, new clothes, gifts for little ones, candles and other paraphernalia. The significance is built around the customs. Even in Greece it’s more a cultural and retail tradition than anything else. Extrapolate that (or something along those lines) for the mainstream and the retail opportunity is huge.
Yes, but Easter doesn’t have a great church following, or a died in the wool tradition as it does in Greece, and among the Greek peoples of Australia. Even the red of the eggs is a symbol of the blood of Christ, we have no such connection, and see first the Easter Bunny, and somewhere, much further down the road, we vaguely see the crucifixion and a biblical connection.
The cultural traditions of the season definitely offer great opportunities to provide a sense of discovery in retail – and this is quite often done quite well at the premium end of the market around food. Given Australia’s high secular orientation by global standards, I would view the broader marketing potential of religion for mainstream retailers as limited and risky. Coopers anyone?
Coles have just been hit with a cluestick about “I’m free and easter” -all that fertility symbolism must have gone to their heads. Bunny ears and ‘harrass me’ signs on women staff.. smart move.
Once was dead now is risen is more a recycling message than a buy more message. It’s also a big Aussie school holiday so the opportunities for marketing might be somewhat limited to ones which work for kids with disposable income.
No mention of the crucifixion in the bible ? I think we can ignore that “fact”….
“Happy Good Friday” – it said at Woolworths – it’s not supposed to be happy….
Social media could play a larger part in the release of Easter-related products, instigating purchase through online brand interaction via a brand’s social media page for instance, a virtual egg hunt perhaps certainly would help a brand gain traction on social pages.
The original Christian period and it’s meaning is obscured by a sea of rabbits during this time, maybe that’s a good strategy for our multi-cultural society, it seems employing this seasonal design strategy is a profitable temptation few brands can resist, brands should be careful not to diminish or damage their brand during this period but leverage the current brand equities and enhance the brand experience.