We use cookies to give you the best personal experience on our website. If you continue to use our site without changing your cookie settings, you agree we may place these cookies on your device. You can change your cookie settings at any time but if you do , you may lose some functionality on our website . More information can be found in our privacy policy.
Please provide more information.
Stylus no longer supports Internet Explorer 7, 8 or 9. Please upgrade to IE 11, Chrome, Safari, Firefox or Edge. This will ensure you have the best possible experience on the site.
stylus
trends		 consumer
lifestyle		 consumer
product		 consumer
engagement		 topics events
calendar		 blog
view all
reports
 		about
stylus		 login
stylus trends
Consumer Lifestyle
Food, Beverage & Hospitality
Fashion
Beauty
Product Design
Colour & Materials
Retail
Media & Marketing
topics
view all reports
events calendar
blog
about stylus
T&C
careers
contact us
login
Retail

Christmas 2016: Digital Trends & Tactics

With e-commerce sales increasing again this Holiday season, digitally biased festive concepts remain essential. From shoppable content and multi-party messaging to 'localised digital' and custom search tools, the strongest ideas are underscored by streamlining, personalisation and connecting the dots between digital and physical commerce.

Share:
Published:
9 Dec 2016
DOWNLOAD PDF
RELATED REPORTS
Christmas 2017: Window Trends & Inspiration
Christmas 2017: Window Trends & Inspiration Christmas 17: Window Trends & Inspo Retailers continue to celebrate the biggest trading period of the year with festive storefronts. Tapping digitally enhanced participatory concepts, witty luxury initiatives and windows repurposed as communication channels to comment on the zeitgeist, here are our top three global trends from 2017. 
Retail
Advertising & Branding
21 Dec 2017
Western Brands Cash In on China’s Singles’ Day
Western Brands Cash In on China’s Singles’ Day Western Brands Eye Up Singles’ Day Perhaps not surprisingly in the era of globalisation, Western retailers have finally added China’s Singles’ Day (the biggest money-spinner on earth in terms of retail ‘events’) to their list of ‘holidays’ to target. 
Retail
Digital Commerce
16 Nov 2017
Retail Halloween Activations 2017
Retail Halloween Activations 2017 Retail Halloween Activations 2017 Consumer spending on Halloween continues to rise, with 2017 predicted to reach new heights. In the US, 179 million consumers  are predicted to spend $9.1bn (up 8.3% from 2016’s $8.4bn – NRF, 2017), while a record figure of approximately £320m ($420m) is anticipated to be spent on Halloween goods in the UK (Mintel, 2017). 
Retail
Advertising & Branding
31 Oct 2017
Innovating Communication: Unbound London 2017
Innovating Communication: Unbound London 2017 Innovating Communication At Unbound London 2017 (July 19-20), start-ups and legacy industries came together to explore strategies for innovation. Experts from brands like Planet Organic, Deutsche Bank, Refinery29, Google and BuzzFeed shared how they use cutting-edge communication tools to build steady customer relationships.
Media & Marketing
Insight & Innovation
03 Aug 2017
Christmas Design Direction: Fantasia
Christmas Design Direction: Fantasia Christmas Design Direction Fantasia Eclectic and with a more-is-more approach, Fantasia takes visual influences from both fairy tales and cultures around the world. Novelty sequins, fake fur and pattern collages are united by their saccharine palette.
Product Design
Seasonal
26 May 2017
VIEW ALL Reports
Christmas Design Direction: Archive
Christmas Design Direction: Archive Christmas Design Direction: Archive This highly decorative, luxurious direction is inspired by the treasure troves of museums and historic mansions. Ornamental accessories are reinvented in contemporary materials and created with techniques that mix the handcrafted with the machine-made.
Product Design
Key Directions
26 May 2017
Christmas Design Direction: Colour
Christmas Design Direction: Colour Christmas Design Direction: Colour Evolving from our Autumn/Winter 2018-19 Colour Spectrum, these palettes provide a key component of our Christmas 2018 Design Directions – Fantasia, Archive and Frost.
Product Design
Colour & Materials
26 May 2017
Easter 2017: Best Brand Activations
Easter 2017: Best Brand Activations Easter 2017: Best Brand Activations With high-street footfall over the Easter weekend forecast to increase 8.8% from 2016 in the UK alone (Springboard, 2017), Easter still represents a fruitful seasonal opportunity for retail.

We highlight the best brand initiatives, including interactive packaging, flash sales (see Cyber Easter Monday), virtual treasure hunts, brand academies and an upsurge of pet-powered initiatives.
Retail
Advertising & Branding
13 Apr 2017
Retail: Valentine’s Strategies, 2017
Retail: Valentine’s Strategies, 2017 Valentine’s Strategies, 2017 Shifting attitudes towards romance, a still-rampant appetite for personalisation and the promise of self-help are fuelling Valentine's 2017 – making 'Red Saturday' a retail force to be reckoned with. Straddling feminism-fuelled Galentine's celebrations, love workshops, tongue-in-cheek infomercials and customisable social comms, we track the ideas with the most mileage.
Retail
Digital Commerce
09 Feb 2017
Message in a Coca-Cola Bottle
Message in a Coca-Cola Bottle Message in a Coca-Cola Bottle As part of its 2016 Christmas campaign, global soft drinks giant Coca-Cola developed a bottle cap that allowed customers to record a message to friends and loved ones.
Food, Beverage & Hospitality
Food & Beverage
23 Jan 2017
BMW’s Tango-Powered AR Visualiser
BMW’s Tango-Powered AR Visualiser BMW’s Tango-Powered AR Visualiser BMW is piloting a 3D augmented reality (AR) experience app powered by Google's AR technology Tango, allowing consumers to customise and interact with virtual life-sized versions of its i3 and i8 car models.
Media & Marketing
Digital Culture
16 Jan 2017
Destination Teen: Missguided’s Social Media Mad Flagship
Destination Teen: Missguided’s Social Media Mad Flagship Teen Retail: Missguided Flagship British fast fashion womenswear e-tailer Missguided has moved into brick-and-mortar commerce with the opening of its first standalone flagship store in Westfield Stratford City shopping mall, East London. Focused intently on the teen market, the theme of the 20,000 sq ft store is ‘On Air’ – a reference to the always-on, topically relevant nature of broadcasting hubs. It therefore revels accordingly in the capacity for creating ultra shareable social media moments, fun interactions and self-steered exploration.
Retail
Store Concepts
03 Jan 2017
Lidl’s ‘Social Price Drop’
Lidl’s ‘Social Price Drop’ Lidl’s ‘Social Price Drop’ German discount supermarket Lidl launched an innovative Christmas social media marketing campaign that used Twitter to engage and excite its customers in the UK during the festive period.
Food, Beverage & Hospitality
Food & Beverage
22 Dec 2016
Christmas Campaigns Don’t Connect on Mobile
Christmas Campaigns Don’t Connect on Mobile Christmas Campaigns Miss on Mobile British retailer John Lewis may have deployed Snapchat lenses to boost its lavish annual TV ad, but 44% of UK mobile users still reported not having experienced a single Holiday campaign on their phones this year (Marketing Week, 2016).
Media & Marketing
Advertising & Branding
21 Dec 2016
Google’s Virtual Xmas Window Tour
Google’s Virtual Xmas Window Tour Google’s Virtual Xmas Window Tour Google has launched a Window Wonderland map tool – enabling global fans of NYC's iconic Christmas window displays to explore them completely remotely, and with plenty of added extras.
Retail
Digital Commerce
20 Dec 2016
Xmas 2016: Philanthropic Dept. Store Initiatives
Xmas 2016: Philanthropic Dept. Store Initiatives Xmas 2016: Philanthropic Retail Many retailers utilised the huge focus on the holiday season, (Christmas still generates as much as 30% of annual retail sales globally [Fortune 2016]), as an opportunity to play up their wider cultural acumen and commitment to social and ethical causes. It’s an area swiftly becoming a necessity - 40% of North American study participants saying they were interested in buying from socially responsible brands (Nielsen, 2016). 
Retail
Advertising & Branding
19 Dec 2016
Agent Provocateur’s WhatsApp Ménage à Trois
Agent Provocateur’s WhatsApp Ménage à Trois Retail’s WhatsApp Ménage à Trois Fully embracing the power of messaging (see Concierge Commerce: Upgrading Customer Service and The Messaging Opportunity), British lingerie brand Agent Provocateur is offering couples personalised gift advice via group chats on WhatsApp as part of its Naughty or Nice Christmas 2016 campaign.
Retail
Digital Commerce
15 Dec 2016
BMW’s Personalised TV Ad
BMW’s Personalised TV Ad BMW’s Personalised TV Ad BMW has launched an interactive ad for its X1 model that enables people watching on smart TVs to customise the viewing experience using their remote controls.
Media & Marketing
Advertising & Branding
09 Dec 2016
Designer Christmas Trees
Designer Christmas Trees Designer Christmas Trees The start of the holiday season is marked with public Christmas tree unveilings. Commissioning a designer to create a bespoke tree is in favour this year and offers a festive PR incentive. We select three designs that span the creative disciplines and break away from tradition.
Product Design
Seasonal
02 Dec 2016
Phygital Xmas: Blippar’s Mass-Brand AR Activation, London
Phygital Xmas: Blippar’s Mass-Brand AR Activation, London Blippar’s Mass-Brand Xmas AR Event Covent Garden’s property management company Capco has partnered with British augmented reality (AR) app Blippar on a digitally enhanced physical shopping experience. It capitalises on the retail district’s magnetic attraction for Christmas shoppers (five million are expected to visit the London tourist mecca this holiday season).
Retail
Digital Commerce
22 Nov 2016
Decoded Fashion Tokyo, 2016: The New Rules of Luxury
Decoded Fashion Tokyo, 2016: The New Rules of Luxury Decoded Fashion Tokyo Summit, 2016 Decoded Fashion's Tokyo 2016 summit united brand leaders, retail analysts and tech pioneers to discuss digital etiquette for the luxury sector and beyond. From controlling conversations to unified commerce, localised digital to rebooted storytelling – plus key insights into Japan’s luxury shoppers – we present the highlights.
Retail
Digital Commerce
25 Oct 2016
Coach Ditches App to Focus on Messaging Tools
Coach Ditches App to Focus on Messaging Tools Coachmoji: Less App, More Chat US fashion label Coach is one of the first premium brands to embrace Apple's new iMessage features, which form part of the newly upgraded iOS 10 software system. Most notably, it has made use of the brandable emoji keyboards that let retailers sneak snippets of 'content' directly into messages.
Retail
Digital Commerce
13 Oct 2016
The Messaging Opportunity
The Messaging Opportunity The Messaging Opportunity A pathway into 'dark social', messaging promises a more frictionless, personalised, immediate and intimate means of reaching customers. We look at why it will become an indispensable means of mobile connection, how the channel is unique, what early-entry brands are doing and what the future holds.
Media & Marketing
Media & Entertainment
30 Aug 2016
Concierge Commerce: Upgrading Customer Service
Concierge Commerce: Upgrading Customer Service Concierge Commerce: Elevate Service The direct brand-consumer connections afforded by social media have driven customer service expectations through the roof, prompting a rush of smart digital tools and formerly VIP-only concierge services to hit the mass market. We highlight the smartest strategies, straddling messaging culture, delegation retail and trans-industry innovation.
Retail
Digital Commerce
16 Jun 2016
Personalising E-Tail
Personalising E-Tail Personalising E-Tail Conversational chatbot search engines, responsive apps relaying custom content, machine learning merged with human advice and advanced e-concierges all underscore the new era of e-tail personalisation. We track the key strategies driving sales and engagement.
Retail
Digital Commerce
19 May 2016
Contextual Commerce
Contextual Commerce Contextual Commerce Contextual retailing (inspiration blended with relevancy) is flourishing, boosted by new tech tools providing more immersive, seamless and connected experiences. From shoppable media and trading on live trends, to topical content marketing and editorialised or test-oriented store formats, the best new strategies hold benefits for brands in every sector.
Retail
Digital Commerce
04 Feb 2016
Rapid Retail & Bite-Sized Engagement
Rapid Retail & Bite-Sized Engagement Rapid Retail Consumers' increasingly busy lives are fuelling the growth of retail concepts based on speed and convenience. From swift payments and bite-sized 'brand bait', to streamlined store layouts, we spotlight key tactics for keeping pace.
Retail
Store Concepts
21 Jan 2016
Digital Christmas, 2015
Digital Christmas, 2015 Digital Christmas, 2015 Driven by the rise and rise of digital commerce, on-the-pulse e-initiatives and tech-amplified stores are championing modern Holiday retail. From elevated gift guides and shared-input wish listing, to real-time hotlists, interactive windows and shoppable content, we track the highlights.
Retail
Digital Commerce
08 Dec 2015
Get Real
Get Real Get Real Get Real explores how brands can successfully engage with a new generation of austerity-hardened consumers who value fallibility, vulnerability and real human emotion over the idealised promise of a perfect life. We identify key tools, business strategies and commercial opportunities for connecting with this post-aspirational mindset across retail, consumer lifestyle, fashion and marketing.
Trend Reports
Get Real
28 Sep 2015
Beta Brandscapes: New Rules of Engagement
Beta Brandscapes: New Rules of Engagement Beta Brandscapes Digital culture has bred a generation of consumers that expect speed, interactivity and a world of choice, but also more involved, humanised brand connections. From incubator flagships and complicit commerce, to nurturing the 'invested self', we reveal the new, beta-based rules of engagement.
Retail
Insight & Innovation
18 Sep 2015
New-Era Luxury
New-Era Luxury New-Era Luxury New-Era Luxury explores how changing consumer attitudes, emerging technologies and new product developments are reshaping the luxury landscape, challenging brands across industries to reboot traditional values for the next generation.
Trend Reports
New-Era Luxury
07 May 2015
Luxury Retail: Virtual Added Value
Luxury Retail: Virtual Added Value Virtual Added Value Sensitive uses of technology are enabling luxury brands to positively reimagine their codes and roles and reach for modern audiences. From hyper-synchronised apps and virtual sensoriums, to desire-inducing digital delay, we outline the best tech strategies and incoming tools for amplifying a luxury perspective.
Retail
New-Era Luxury
07 May 2015
Reactive Retail: Dynamic Data Builds Brand Traction
Reactive Retail: Dynamic Data Builds Brand Traction Reactive Retailing Smart brands are using increased pools of consumer data to personalise their digital platforms and store services in real-time. In-the-moment ads, websites that shape-shift dynamically, apps that keep fans in the loop and geo-services with localised rewards exemplify the best strategies.
Retail
Digital Commerce
22 Apr 2015
Digital Christmas, 2014
Digital Christmas, 2014 Digital Christmas, 2014 With e-commerce continuing to boom, digitally attuned promotions are swiftly becoming the bedrock of Christmas retailing. From interactive window displays to shoppable gift guides and swipe-to-like wish-listing apps, we spotlight the key strategies for the 2014 festive season.
Retail
Digital Commerce
10 Dec 2014
Luxury Online for Millennials
Luxury Online for Millennials Luxury Online for Millennials Digitally savvy millennials will soon outstrip other demographics when it comes to buying luxury goods, making them an audience that premium retailers must embrace. From enabling self-promotion to mobile-friendly formats, we review key digital strategies for enticing young and future luxury consumers.
Retail
Digital Commerce
09 May 2014
Shoppable Content: Entertainment
Shoppable Content: Entertainment Shoppable Content: Entertainment Shoppable films, TV shows and music videos are allowing consumers to make a purchase the moment that inspiration hits. We review the brands, broadcasters and tech companies leading the way.
Retail
Anywhere Retailing
19 Jul 2013
Shoppable Content: Publishing
Shoppable Content: Publishing Shoppable Content: Publishing The retail and publishing industries are tightly converging, marrying content with commerce. We examine the new routes to revenue, and the brands and publications partnering to best effect.
Retail
Anywhere Retailing
12 Jul 2013
About Stylus Terms & Conditions Careers Contact Us

Updated
Related
 ©  PANTONE®TPX
 COATED
 RAL
 RGB
 HEX
 NCS