In-depth: D2C brands earmark 30-40% of annual marketing budget for festive season

As the upcoming festive season beckons, D2C brands have earmarked approximately 30-40% of their annual marketing budget for strategic deployment as they foresee more than 30% growth in sales and revenue during the same period.

Various D2C brands such as Plum, Bevzilla, Arata.in, BoYo, Jade Forest, Swiss Beauty, French Crown, Livpure, and others are gearing up to implement a range of targeted advertising strategies.

These strategies include increased investments in enhancing brand visibility, performance marketing, and more.

Dhruv Madhok

Dhruv Madhok, Co-Founder, Arata.in, said, “We are planning on ramping up our marketplace advertising for this festive season. We get a lot of footfall and have exciting event days during the OND quarter (3rd quarter).”

Amar Choudhary

Amar Choudhary, Founder, BoYo, outlined their more assertive approach, explaining, "This festive season we are going a little more aggressive and allocating approximately 40% of the budget towards building the corporate gifting category as we are launching an extensive range of it."

Shivani Bhel

Shivani Bhel, Chief Marketing Officer  (CMO), Plum, said that being a D2C brand, online sales have been a key driver for their business.

“Our target audience is largely digital-centric and we would continue to focus more on the online space. It helps us with better reach, and more targeted and customised content which helps us build better preference, leading to conversion and eventually better ROI on our ad spends. We are also growing our offline presence through the setup of our exclusive outlets. We tend to run campaigns separately for both since the mindset of the audience for both is very different,” she added.

Shuchir Suri

Shuchir Suri, Founder, Jade Forest, underlined the high-volume nature of the festive season for their brand. He said, "The festive season is a high-volume season for us for both mixers and RTDs (ready to drink). The majority of our budgets are allocated between October – December. With e-commerce being our major sales driver, we plan on focusing budgets on discounting and visibility ads to stand out among the clutter. We also intend on a heavier push in retail and horeca via schemes and improved placements."

Saahil Nayar

Illustrating their comprehensive approach, Saahil Nayar, CEO, Swiss Beauty, said, "We have parked budgets for exclusive gifts and kits, festive-inspired looks and ATL and BTL activities as well. All in all the brand feels, we have to be there for every makeup lover, during both their festive and celebrations days to the days where they get wedding jitters."

Arata.in has allocated about 30-40% of the annual marketing budget for this quarter, according to Madhok.

Choudhary said, "Last year, our contribution towards gifting seasons and budget was a bit conservative but this year we have allocated approximately 40%."

Ilesh Ghevariya

Ilesh Ghevariya, Founder, French Crown, outlined their approach saying, "We utilise anywhere between 30-35% of our annual budget during the festive season."

Behl said that their advertising budgets have largely grown in line with revenues. Additionally, they are investing strategically behind specific categories and initiatives.

“Given that we are active all year round, we have consistent budgets deployed in building awareness as well as conversion-based campaigns. Typically, our festive spends account for about 30% of our total spends,” she added.

Anurag Chhabra

Anurag Chhabra, Co-founder of Bevzilla provided insights into their allocation, sharing that Bevzilla typically designates approximately 45-55% of its total yearly ad budget to enhance its presence during festive periods.

“However, these figures are subject to variation depending on factors such as Bevzilla's scale, marketing tactics, target demographic, and the cultural importance of the festivities in its key markets. The allocation might lean towards a higher percentage to tap into heightened consumer spending, or it could be more evenly distributed throughout the year, aligning with Bevzilla's year-round promotional approach,” he added.

Rakesh Kaul

Rakesh Kaul, MD, Livpure, said, "As a customer-first brand, our spend this season will be around 30% of our marketing budget for the festive boost. Additionally, we are planning a print campaign to enhance brand visibility during this period, and some of our budgets will be dedicated to creating ground visibility through events and other activities."

"Being an omnichannel brand, we are putting in our best efforts to offer the most attractive deals for consumers during the festive season. Moreover, we are planning to launch exclusive products on both online and offline channels. As a trusted company, we believe in providing enticing offers to our valued customers," he added.

Kaul believes that the importance of this time is paramount, as people tend to spend more during the festive season. With proper planning and awareness, Livpure can make the most out of this opportunity.

Growth projections in terms of sales and revenue

“We expect to grow 100% more than we did last year in the same quarter. The goal is to grow over 50% in the coming quarter over this,” Madhok stated.

Choudhary said that “We will be growing approximately 5-6x this festive season with respect to last year. If I talk about a 3-month festive sales window, our gifting will contribute approx 30-40% of the total revenue of that time period.”

Ilesh stated that “We have ambitious growth projections for this year's festive season, expecting a 50% increase in sales compared to the 30% growth achieved last year. Our expanded range of categories, including men's ethnic garments, men's ethnic footwear and women's western wear, will contribute significantly to this boost in revenue. Anticipating a surge in demand, we expect almost 50% of our total revenue to be generated specifically during the festive season, reflecting the crucial importance of this period for our business success.”

Suri said that Jade Forest has been doubling its growth YoY and that’s what the brand is planning for this season as well.

“Owing to some new and exciting things in our pipeline, we’re looking at a solid 40% sale coming in from what we define as the festive season at Jade Forest,” he added.

Nayar said that the brand has substantially grown over the past year and given the momentum and things following the bigger picture, the company aims to see a YoY growth of over 70% for the festive season this year. Although the percentage of sales varies on various factors but an annual number was to be accounted for D2C which can land somewhere between 10-18% during just the festive season.

According to Chhabra, during the festive season at Bevzilla, they are gearing up with targeted social media campaigns, personalised email incentives and exclusive holiday bundles.

“Anticipating a 50% surge, our main D2C trend revolves around seamless omnichannel engagement. We are focusing on online for nurturing customer bonds and propelling our expected growth,” he added.

Brands’ deploying specific advertising tactics ahead of the festive season

Madhok highlighted, “This is one of the few times where we will invest in brand visibility in the form of banners and display ads as opposed to solely running the typical performance marketing activities that we invest in through the year.”

Meanwhile, Choudhary emphasised that proper planning in terms of selection, price band, positioning and targeting to specific and general segments have been kept in mind.

“We will be playing big on performance marketing supported by good UGC too. Anticipating trends, the bids and CAC will be high during those times but clarity on for whom the product has been created and identifying the right sales channel will play a crucial role,” he added.

Ilesh outlined, "During the festive season, we will deploy a comprehensive mix of digital marketing tactics, including social media advertising, email marketing and search engine optimisation to effectively target our audience. As the primary trend for D2C marketers during this festive season, I anticipate a strong focus on personalisation and omnichannel integration, enabling brands to tailor offerings to individual preferences and enhance the overall customer experience. Our strategic focus on broadening our portfolio with men's ethnic garments, men's ethnic footwear, and women's western wear will provide a complete fashion solution to customers, attracting new ones and fostering brand loyalty among existing clientele."

Suri said, “During the festive season we always see increased online shopping and discount-hungry behaviour from shoppers. Our strategy will be to meet the customer’s needs wherever they are looking for us.”

He added, “Apart from more aggressive marketing strategies, we focus heavily on brand collaborations during the festive time. We are looking to create some gift packs and hampers that will be available in retail stores. Consumers look for unique pairings and maximum value for gifting purposes, and that’s what we intend on giving them.”

Given Plum’s active social presence, Behl said, they have contextual and thematic marketing campaigns all year long. Moreover, they are constantly experimenting with various trends and seeing great results. For example, last year, they ran a campaign called ‘Shaadi Ready with Plum’ during the wedding season in November-December, which was eventually turned into a sale property on the website while also being a content-led strategy for our social channels.

“We have noticed that such periodic thematic campaigns help increase our social share of voice due to more mentions of our content owing to the relatability and relevance. Hence, we will continue to experiment with such catchy trends and tweak them as we go along. In terms of the primary trend for the D2C space, we expect personalisation to be prominent as customers are increasingly seeking differentiated shopping experiences catering to their needs and preferences. As a result, we will emphasize levers such as personalised product recommendations, offline trial pushes, experience zones in our stores, etc,” she added.

Chhabra said, “We are actively focusing on employing digital advertising channels, such as social media, email marketing, and influencer collaborations with an intent to increase focus on personalized experiences. By leveraging customer data and insights, we plan to tailor our offerings in a way that compliments the needs of our customers.”

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