We’re in the midst of the holiday shopping season, and consumers are looking for the perfect gift.
According to Intuit Mailchimp’s Holiday Shopping Unwrapped report, 43 per cent of shoppers will have already made a holiday-related purchase before November even started, meaning retailers that only focus on the traditional December rush are missing out.
But reaching customers and truly connecting with them takes more than just showing up earlier – or even showing up across multiple channels. The challenge many retailers face is often not the lack of communication, but the fragmented messaging that makes the customer journey feel disjointed. In a period when retailers are competing for shoppers’ attention, building strategic campaigns that tell a cohesive story across all their touchpoints is essential for actual impact.
From multichannel to omnichannel
Achieving consistency across storylines relies on an omnichannel approach. Unlike multichannel, which is simply engaging across multiple channels or platforms while treating each one independently, omnichannel integrates them as part of a single and seamless experience. That means email, SMS, social, ads and more operate together, creating a connected journey for consumers regardless of where they engage the brand.
To achieve this, it helps to have the right platform. Intuit Mailchimp’s recent updates make it easier for retailers to unify their marketing channels. New features like a strengthened Shopify integration, multi-audience and multi-country SMS capabilities, and a unified analytics dashboard allow retailers to orchestrate their messages, rather than simply distributing them. These features and more also enable retailers to align their marketing messaging with ecommerce data so they can personalise more effectively while maintaining an overarching narrative.
Connection drives the customer journey
A recent Intuit Mailchimp study* found that 40 per cent of UK business leaders are struggling to retain loyal customers, but a holistic message across channels can entice a browser to enter the funnel and then breeds the trust and familiarity that make them want to stay.
For example, Luminary Bakery, a London-based social enterprise bakery, has found that this continuity delivers results. “The festive season is vital for bakeries like ours,” says Faezeh Faiz, who leads the brand’s digital marketing.
“Mailchimp has essentially become our digital shop window, welcoming people in, inviting them to stay, and keeping our mission at the heart of everything. The Shopify integration means we can react quickly: spotlighting new festive bakes, reminding people of last-order dates, and sharing offers without having to juggle clunky systems. Being able to attribute sales uplift directly to campaigns helps us see what’s driving impact, reassuring us that every email we send is contributing to both our sales and our social mission.“
Data is the thread that ties every channel together, and it’s not possible to deliver a coherent experience without complete understanding of what consumers are doing. Advanced analytics and real-time attribution tools, like Intuit Mailchimp’s conversion insights and new cookieless tracking options, showcase a future where marketers see how each touchpoint contributes to the full customer journey, even as privacy expectations evolve.
Using conversations to convert
The holiday winners won’t be the brands that shout the loudest, but the ones that make customers feel like they’re part of one ongoing conversation instead of disconnected campaigns. Omnichannel thinking pushes marketers to create seamless messaging across channels, demonstrating that they understand their audience and can deliver value to them for the long-haul. For brands that get it right, connection will be the real gift of the season and beyond.
So if you’re ready to turn connection into conversion, dive into Mailchimp’s new innovation and unwrap the power of your data to drive holiday sales here.
*According to Mailchimp’s study in late July 2025, in partnership with Sapio research. The survey was conducted among 375 Marketers of all seniorities and 375 BDMs at manager level or above across all sectors in the UK.
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