Over the weekend, I was curious to find out how top UK retailers executed their Valentines Day digital marketing campaigns. So I checked out the Valentine’s Day landing page of 30 multichannel retailers, took notes on any special features in their valentines day campaigns and also took notes their URLs (for SEO). I hope this article forms a reference point for other retailers’ valentines day digital marketing campaigns in the future.
House of Fraser executed Valentines day quite cleverly with some gamification. Shoppers were asked a series of questions about their other halves and the tool recommended the ideal Valentines Day gift. Here is how I fared: They surprisingly didn’t have a Valentines Day landing page; rather their navigation led shoppers to their Valentines Day Gift Finder Quiz page.
I was a bit surprised about Amazon’s execution as it was bland to say the least. It was simply: one massive landing page with links to categories more akin to Valentines Day gifts and that was it! They also had Happy Valentines Day gift cards… And a ‘special offer’ for kindle devices…so nothing new or inventive here!
Argos put in an effort- they marked the season of love by adding a ‘Valentines’ link to the navigation bar as well as updating their home page with a splash cover image titled ‘Get Set for Love’. This is how their Valentines Day landing page looked like: They also ran an offer on Jewellery:
Boots had 9 pages dedicated to valentines gift suggestions to shopper – it was extensive and well curated. Here are three screenshots: Gifts for him… And Gifts for Her…
John Lewis had their ‘Valentines Day’ landing page under their ‘Gifts’ category that linked to about several custom made valentine’s day specific category pages (see the links on the sidebar below): Custom valentine category pages looked like any other category pages but with handpicked product suggestions:
As expected from a department store, Debenhams marked valentines with a home page splash and headline ‘FOUND IT’ with gift suggestions nudging shoppers to browers their custom valentines day category pages. Their Valentines Day landing page was well crafted, comprehensive and gave shoppers a lot of options and potential gift ideas. The top 3 categories they were looking to push were all above the fold Perfumes & Aftershave, Lingerie and Flowers.
Marks and Spencers are big on Flowers – so the focus this valentine’s day (as has been the case with past valentines) was Flowers. Their Valentines shop featured: Cards, Flowers and gifts. They had 5 landing pages to cater for Valentines day shoppers.
Asda’ Valentine’s Day landing page was one of my personal favourite – largely because of how well designed and glossily coloured it was. They had two landing pages. The first was for their Groceries site – which pushed the range of food and drinks suited to mark the occasion. Their second landing page they called ‘BE MINE, SWEET VALENTINE’ was beautifully crafted – it was a blend of bite sized tips and links to shop in specific categories. They also shared a Pinterest board and Spotify playlist to mark the occasion.
The White Company tucked their Valentines Day page under their ‘Gifts’ tab with no homepage showcase banner. Their Valentines Day landing page was nonetheless appealing – it linked to handpicked items ideal for a valentines day snuggle.
The Body Shop went all out this Valentines Day – their homepage was all prepped up with their quite intense ‘BODY EUPHORIA’ range cover image, especially made for Valentines: Their navigation featured a ‘Valentines Gifts Ideas’ landing page: Items on their landing page were handpicked as well as fully filterable on the sidebar. And they made sure they did not mark the occasion as a purely commercial affair by showcasing their “Beauty with a Heart Infographic.”
I was IMPRESSED with Tiffany & Co – but what would you expect! They splashed out with the cleverly executed ‘Last-Minute Valentines Day Advice’. – A brilliantly produced series of videos geared to ‘teasing men to think outside of the chocolate box’ and buy something extra special from Tiffany & Co – kudos to the marketing team! Here is a screencast video I captured of their campaign: This was Tiffany & Co’s homepage to mark Valentines Day:
As expected from a perfume shop, The Fragrance Shop had to splash out on Valentines day. Their homepage showcased a Valentines season ‘FORGET ME NOT THIS VALENTINES’, up to half price offer. That led unto a Valentines landing page with offers.
Paul smith was very subtle – this is how they marked the occasion on their homepage. I didn’t come across any mention of Valentines Day on their website:
Gap unapologetically featured a 25% Discount offer on their homepage to mark the occasion. It was very well laid out and presented. They offered a ‘LOVEGAP’ voucher code to shopper.
Liberty splashed out on their homepage to mark the occasion with a banner. Their valentines day landing page titled ‘VALENTINES DAY GIFT FINDER’ showcased links to sections of their site catering for gifts. There was nothing customised or specialised beyond their homepage and valentines landing page.
Pandora’s homepage was very welcoming to Valentines and a gateway to well curated collections of product page ideal valentines day gifts. I would like to think that most men that came to Pandora to search for a jewellery for their loved one most certainly got what they were looking for. Pandora really controlled the user journey with these custom pages.
Lingerie is a highly desirable gift to give and to receive – Ann Summers no doubt had to rise up to the occasion. Their home page welcomed visitors with 8 gateways pages all well suited for valentines day. Then further down the folder, the links were repeated in a visual layout for visitors not to miss out on that they were looking for. The Ann Summers marketing team ensured that they had a custom landing page for Valentines day gifts as well as 8 other custom landing page like their landing page for toys.
Given that chocolates are a Valentines Day staple; Hotel Chocolat was very well prepared to mark the occasion. They had a tab dedicated to ‘VALENTINE DAY GIFTS’. This is how their valentine’s day gifts landing page looked like; a list of hand picked Hotel Chocolat gifts ideal for valentines. One of their home page banners featured this Valentines days message which linked to their Valentine’s Day Gift landing page.
Matalan had a pink themed home page with no mention of Valentines Day. Their Valentines Landing page was oddly located in the ‘Homeware’ section:
Killing two birds with a stone, Paperchase’s, homepage splashed out with a ‘FIFTY SHADES OF EARL GREY’ theme marking both Valentines Day and the movie premiere. They had a single landing leading on to hand-picked products that make ideal valentines day gifts. A simple yet effective Valentines Day marketing strategy was executed here.
The Outnet didn’t seem to mark the Valentines Day on their homepage. They instead just had a Valentines Day landing page with hand picked items to mark the occasion.
As expected from The Perfume Shop – their home page screamed LOVE with a ‘Chloé Love Story’ theme! There was a direct link to their Valentines Offers page from the nav bar. As expected, there was heavy discounting on their Valentines Day Landing Offers page.
Black decided to mark the occasion with content. They published quite an inspiring blog post about ‘Falling in love with the Outdoors over the Valentine’s Weekend‘. Don’t you love their gif?
Misguided’s homepage had a strong recurring pink theme – which I’m not sure it was deliberate or market the occasion. They did however run a Valentines Day 20% special Offer:
The Cath Kidston marketing team put in an effort for Valentines Day – their homepage had a valentine’s day focus. Their cover banner promoted a postage offer and a lot of content around valentines was created. This is a blog post about Valentines gift ideas: They also featured a wish list and match-markers section (each with unique magazine-laid out content):
As you would image for a flower shop – Valentines Day is probably their busiest period of the year. Serenata Flowers was very well prepare for the occasion. With an easy to access nav link direct to their Valentines Day Flowers landing page. They were also cross-selling Champagne: As expected, they had an extensive collection of roses:
I couldn’t access all of Interflora’s Valentines day landing pages on Valentines day but as you can see from the sitelink below – they had a pretty extensive number of pages to cater for the demand. This is what I got – Did you Forget Valentines Day?
Moonpig was very well prepared for Valentines Day – along with the card service, they offered landing pages specifically to cater for Gift Boxes, and Flowers. Given that their in the business of greeting cards and gifts, they rose up to the occasion.
Curry’s didn’t run a Valentines campaign – rather, they marked the occasion with a Valentines quiz that interestingly matched the ideal gadget of choice for your partner based on questions it asked.
Last chance to take our #Valentines quiz to find your tech soulmate and be entered to #win it! http://t.co/5Ym7umA84S pic.twitter.com/Mt55vVuSWs — Currys & PC World (@curryspcworld) February 13, 2015
ASOS as expected was pretty cool with marketing Valentines Day – they had a well laid out Valentine’s Day landing page that led to three categories that we specially curated for Valentines shopping: Gifts for Her, Gifts for Him and Novelty Gifts Their category pages were original category pages with filters that extracted gifts ideal for Valentines Day. So no additional pages were actually created.
Over the weekend, I was curious to find out how top UK retailers executed their Valentines Day digital marketing campaigns. So I checked out the Valentine’s Day landing page of 30 multichannel retailers, took notes on any special features in their valentines day campaigns and also took notes their URLs (for SEO). I hope this article forms a reference point for other retailers’ valentines day digital marketing campaigns in the future.
House of Fraser executed Valentines day quite cleverly with some gamification. Shoppers were asked a series of questions about their other halves and the tool recommended the ideal Valentines Day gift. Here is how I fared: They surprisingly didn’t have a Valentines Day landing page; rather their navigation led shoppers to their Valentines Day Gift Finder Quiz page.
I was a bit surprised about Amazon’s execution as it was bland to say the least. It was simply: one massive landing page with links to categories more akin to Valentines Day gifts and that was it! They also had Happy Valentines Day gift cards… And a ‘special offer’ for kindle devices…so nothing new or inventive here!
Argos put in an effort- they marked the season of love by adding a ‘Valentines’ link to the navigation bar as well as updating their home page with a splash cover image titled ‘Get Set for Love’. This is how their Valentines Day landing page looked like: They also ran an offer on Jewellery:
Boots had 9 pages dedicated to valentines gift suggestions to shopper – it was extensive and well curated. Here are three screenshots: Gifts for him… And Gifts for Her…
John Lewis had their ‘Valentines Day’ landing page under their ‘Gifts’ category that linked to about several custom made valentine’s day specific category pages (see the links on the sidebar below): Custom valentine category pages looked like any other category pages but with handpicked product suggestions:
As expected from a department store, Debenhams marked valentines with a home page splash and headline ‘FOUND IT’ with gift suggestions nudging shoppers to browers their custom valentines day category pages. Their Valentines Day landing page was well crafted, comprehensive and gave shoppers a lot of options and potential gift ideas. The top 3 categories they were looking to push were all above the fold Perfumes & Aftershave, Lingerie and Flowers.
Marks and Spencers are big on Flowers – so the focus this valentine’s day (as has been the case with past valentines) was Flowers. Their Valentines shop featured: Cards, Flowers and gifts. They had 5 landing pages to cater for Valentines day shoppers.
Asda’ Valentine’s Day landing page was one of my personal favourite – largely because of how well designed and glossily coloured it was. They had two landing pages. The first was for their Groceries site – which pushed the range of food and drinks suited to mark the occasion. Their second landing page they called ‘BE MINE, SWEET VALENTINE’ was beautifully crafted – it was a blend of bite sized tips and links to shop in specific categories. They also shared a Pinterest board and Spotify playlist to mark the occasion.
The White Company tucked their Valentines Day page under their ‘Gifts’ tab with no homepage showcase banner. Their Valentines Day landing page was nonetheless appealing – it linked to handpicked items ideal for a valentines day snuggle.
The Body Shop went all out this Valentines Day – their homepage was all prepped up with their quite intense ‘BODY EUPHORIA’ range cover image, especially made for Valentines: Their navigation featured a ‘Valentines Gifts Ideas’ landing page: Items on their landing page were handpicked as well as fully filterable on the sidebar. And they made sure they did not mark the occasion as a purely commercial affair by showcasing their “Beauty with a Heart Infographic.”
I was IMPRESSED with Tiffany & Co – but what would you expect! They splashed out with the cleverly executed ‘Last-Minute Valentines Day Advice’. – A brilliantly produced series of videos geared to ‘teasing men to think outside of the chocolate box’ and buy something extra special from Tiffany & Co – kudos to the marketing team! Here is a screencast video I captured of their campaign: This was Tiffany & Co’s homepage to mark Valentines Day:
As expected from a perfume shop, The Fragrance Shop had to splash out on Valentines day. Their homepage showcased a Valentines season ‘FORGET ME NOT THIS VALENTINES’, up to half price offer. That led unto a Valentines landing page with offers.
Paul smith was very subtle – this is how they marked the occasion on their homepage. I didn’t come across any mention of Valentines Day on their website:
Gap unapologetically featured a 25% Discount offer on their homepage to mark the occasion. It was very well laid out and presented. They offered a ‘LOVEGAP’ voucher code to shopper.
Liberty splashed out on their homepage to mark the occasion with a banner. Their valentines day landing page titled ‘VALENTINES DAY GIFT FINDER’ showcased links to sections of their site catering for gifts. There was nothing customised or specialised beyond their homepage and valentines landing page.
Pandora’s homepage was very welcoming to Valentines and a gateway to well curated collections of product page ideal valentines day gifts. I would like to think that most men that came to Pandora to search for a jewellery for their loved one most certainly got what they were looking for. Pandora really controlled the user journey with these custom pages.
Lingerie is a highly desirable gift to give and to receive – Ann Summers no doubt had to rise up to the occasion. Their home page welcomed visitors with 8 gateways pages all well suited for valentines day. Then further down the folder, the links were repeated in a visual layout for visitors not to miss out on that they were looking for. The Ann Summers marketing team ensured that they had a custom landing page for Valentines day gifts as well as 8 other custom landing page like their landing page for toys.
Given that chocolates are a Valentines Day staple; Hotel Chocolat was very well prepared to mark the occasion. They had a tab dedicated to ‘VALENTINE DAY GIFTS’. This is how their valentine’s day gifts landing page looked like; a list of hand picked Hotel Chocolat gifts ideal for valentines. One of their home page banners featured this Valentines days message which linked to their Valentine’s Day Gift landing page.
Matalan had a pink themed home page with no mention of Valentines Day. Their Valentines Landing page was oddly located in the ‘Homeware’ section:
Killing two birds with a stone, Paperchase’s, homepage splashed out with a ‘FIFTY SHADES OF EARL GREY’ theme marking both Valentines Day and the movie premiere. They had a single landing leading on to hand-picked products that make ideal valentines day gifts. A simple yet effective Valentines Day marketing strategy was executed here.
The Outnet didn’t seem to mark the Valentines Day on their homepage. They instead just had a Valentines Day landing page with hand picked items to mark the occasion.
As expected from The Perfume Shop – their home page screamed LOVE with a ‘Chloé Love Story’ theme! There was a direct link to their Valentines Offers page from the nav bar. As expected, there was heavy discounting on their Valentines Day Landing Offers page.
Black decided to mark the occasion with content. They published quite an inspiring blog post about ‘Falling in love with the Outdoors over the Valentine’s Weekend‘. Don’t you love their gif?
Misguided’s homepage had a strong recurring pink theme – which I’m not sure it was deliberate or market the occasion. They did however run a Valentines Day 20% special Offer:
The Cath Kidston marketing team put in an effort for Valentines Day – their homepage had a valentine’s day focus. Their cover banner promoted a postage offer and a lot of content around valentines was created. This is a blog post about Valentines gift ideas: They also featured a wish list and match-markers section (each with unique magazine-laid out content):
As you would image for a flower shop – Valentines Day is probably their busiest period of the year. Serenata Flowers was very well prepare for the occasion. With an easy to access nav link direct to their Valentines Day Flowers landing page. They were also cross-selling Champagne: As expected, they had an extensive collection of roses:
I couldn’t access all of Interflora’s Valentines day landing pages on Valentines day but as you can see from the sitelink below – they had a pretty extensive number of pages to cater for the demand. This is what I got – Did you Forget Valentines Day?
Moonpig was very well prepared for Valentines Day – along with the card service, they offered landing pages specifically to cater for Gift Boxes, and Flowers. Given that their in the business of greeting cards and gifts, they rose up to the occasion.
Curry’s didn’t run a Valentines campaign – rather, they marked the occasion with a Valentines quiz that interestingly matched the ideal gadget of choice for your partner based on questions it asked.
Last chance to take our #Valentines quiz to find your tech soulmate and be entered to #win it! http://t.co/5Ym7umA84S pic.twitter.com/Mt55vVuSWs — Currys & PC World (@curryspcworld) February 13, 2015
ASOS as expected was pretty cool with marketing Valentines Day – they had a well laid out Valentine’s Day landing page that led to three categories that we specially curated for Valentines shopping: Gifts for Her, Gifts for Him and Novelty Gifts Their category pages were original category pages with filters that extracted gifts ideal for Valentines Day. So no additional pages were actually created.