By Ellie-Rose Davies, Content Executive at IMRG With the peak trading period of 2025 just weeks away, retailers are making their final preparations. To support them, we spoke with top industry experts who shared their best advice for getting ready. Read on to discover strategies for:

• Increasing customer engagement
• Approaching pricing and discounts
• Ensuring operational speed
• Optimising delivery and fulfilment

Increasing customer engagement

Retailers can approach preparing for Peak as an ongoing process, focusing on consistent, personalised experiences across channels. Experts highlight the role of data, creative planning, and accurate customer information in supporting engagement and sales. Managing Director EMEA at Shopify, Deann Evans recommends retailers to prepare for the peak trading period all year-round, helping to ensure that customer experiences are the best they can be. Deann says: The holiday shopping period is fast approaching, and consumers are deep into their festive planning. 'Merchants need to be ready - but not in one moment as the merchants who thrive during this period are those who treat preparation as a year-round discipline. To be successful merchants can build loyalty and deliver value for their customers by creating seamless experiences.' 'Roughly 60% of UK shopping experiences start and end on separate surfaces according to Shopify research. Its only by connecting all of those channels, and aspects of the business through a unified commerce approach, that merchants will be able to offer best-in-class, personalised, and ultimately, valuable experiences to shoppers this year. As well as preparing for Peak much in advance, retailers may choose to provide stand out experiences, taking approaches to differentiate themselves among their peers. Gisela Benini, Client Strategy Director at Genie Goals says, Last Black Friday showed us the risk of doing the same old thing. CPMs rose, conversion rates fell, and social feeds filled with identical SALE! ads. She urges retailers to Remember that people may not open Instagram or TikTok to shop, but to discover, and peak starts long before BFCM weekend. Gisela says to Audit last years data by day, not just the month. Many shoppers actually jumped in the Friday before. You can shift budget to those windows, refresh creative, and test offers early. Genie Goals Head of Partnerships + Marketing, Hannah Hooton adds, Last year proved that peak isnt about chasing clicks, its about being ready when customers decide to buy. Retailers preparing for Peak 2025 should focus on building trust and reducing friction, from clear value messaging and reliable delivery to engaging content that drives early consideration. Hannah continues, Owned channels can nurture loyalty while paid media captures new demand. Those who put customers first, keep messaging consistent, and plan for every touchpoint will be best placed to turn intent into sales when the pressure hits. Barley Laing, the UK Managing Director at Melissa, provides practical tips to help retailers ensure theyre engaging their customers. He exclaims, Putting in place steps to deliver up-to-date customer contact data is the foundation of delivering strong customer relationship management (CRM), and therefore in supporting retailers in driving sales and stand out over the crucial festive trading period. With up-to-date customer contact data products can be delivered quickly and efficiently, thereby enabling retailers to provide a standout customer experience, while avoiding costly returns, says Barley. Also, having accurate data on users enables retailers to obtain valuable insight, such as a single customer view (SCV). This understanding can be used to improve targeting, including personalisation with communications, which enhances the user experience.