4 of the best alternative holiday sale campaigns

Which retailers are offering an alternative and unique shopping experience this holiday season? We’ve found four examples of retailers who are spreading engagement out over the holiday period, rather than limiting sale campaigns to Black Friday alone.

WHISTLES: ADVENT CALENDAR 2015

Whistles are hosting an online advent calendar through December, which offers great UX. The calendar digitally reveals each day’s offer in the style of an advent calendar, with one-off offers that apply to that day only.

 

 

Users are invited to repeatedly click on each day’s offer until it is revealed:

Offers are emailed to advent calendar users, which is a great way to catalyse new newsletter subscribers:

 

 

KAREN MILLEN: #MYKMWISH

Karen Millen is running a campaign comprised of crowd-sourced content, posted on a specific dedicated landing page and on Twitter when shared with the hashtag #MYKMWISH (there aren’t loads of twitter interactions since it began in November, but there’s a chance this will increase as the holidays approach).

Like a Christmas list, users are invited to curate a “wish list” of five Karen Millen items, name it, add a “style note” to explain what the list is about, and add name and email. Wish lists can also be personalised with a picture.

Karen Millen also use wishlist as an opportunity to increase newsletter subscription numbers:

SWEATY BETTY: 12 DAYS OF FESTIVE GIVEAWAYS

Over a 12 day period beginning December 1st, sportswear brand Sweaty Betty are running a social campaign of daily prizes to be won, which range from a ski jacket to a holiday for two:

Facebook posts take visitors to a landing page where they can enter to win each prize:

The competition demands different levels of engagement. Some ask to tag friends who “deserve” the prize, some link to forms where you simply enter your details, and some require answering questions such as “how do you stay healthy during the holiday period”.

 

V&A SHOP: 12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS

The V&A museum’s online shop is running an online advent calendar, similar in concept to the efforts of Whistles but way less creative and well designed.

Every day, a 20% discount is offered on a specific range of jewellery, until it is replaced by the next 24 hours later – a predictable and repetitive formula, but an alternative holiday season campaign nonetheless.