Peak season is great for business: new customers, extra revenue, added exposure. You only have to look at the UK – where retail sales in December 2024 outperformed that of July 2025 by 20 billion pounds – to see the impact that peak season has.
But despite this exciting revenue increase, new customers during this period behave differently to a brand's existing customer base; they buy fast, buy cheap, then often disappear.
For scaling businesses, winning new custom during the peak season is only half of the battle. Post-peak retention is where long-term revenue is truly secured.
In this blog post, we’ll explore why post-peak retention should be a strategic priority, how shopper behaviour is evolving, and which tactics help brands turn one-time discount buyers into long-term customers.
We’ll break this down into three sections.
eCommerce customer acquisition cost (CAC) is hitting all-time highs in the UK thanks to growing economic pressures, competition for online ad space and tightening data regulations.
Competition, media inflation and marketplace saturation are the key drivers behind acquisition costs rising. Retention, on the other hand, remains one of the most cost-effective growth strategies.
Google AI Overviews, Perplexity and ChatGPT are more likely to show brands with:
This new era of online shopping gives brands a new incentive: to strengthen customer loyalty in eCommerce not just for revenue, but for algorithmic visibility.
Before we dive into how to improve retention, it’s essential to firstly understand the mindset of a deal-first shopper.
Peak season shoppers highly prioritise:
If your post-purchase journey lets discount-driven shoppers down, it’s rare that they ever return.
Each of these tactics is designed to strengthen customer loyalty in eCommerce, especially for brands managing multi-market fulfilment and diverse buyer journeys.
Peak season customers are most receptive to communication soon after they’ve ordered from your brand. A structured, 30-day roadmap helps you convert one-time buyers into repeat customers.
Brands that follow a structured post-purchase journey are more likely to see an increase in second-order rates.
Retention is often emotional; creating positive sentiment towards your brand is usually a sign of your operations being in good shape.
Most shoppers value:
When new customers come in during peak season, you don’t have a great deal of information to leverage.
However, it’s important to understand that peak season shoppers often buy:
With this in mind, some tactics that work well to retain shoppers include:
Shoppers respond positively to personalisation, but it’s important that you also respect privacy.
Loyalty programmes help turn discount-first shoppers into long-term customers, but only if it’s easy to sign up and benefit from.
Most shoppers enjoy:
Brands should avoid overly gamified systems, and instead offer value that enhances the shopping experience. An effective loyalty programme is a driver of customer loyalty in eCommerce, but only when paired with smooth fulfilment and consistent service.
Identify groups that are relevant to your brand, such as:
Structure your communication across a 30-day window, with:
Without effective fulfilment, all your work to improve retention falls down. Focus on:
Use behavioural data you gather to:
When setting up your loyalty programme, prioritise the benefits shoppers care about:
Long-term customer retention doesn’t come from a single strategy, but the combined effect of communication, trust, and the post-purchase experience.
Brands can invest in messaging, AI personalisation and loyalty programmes, but if delivery is consistently late or returns are painful, customers are unlikely to return.
This is why the right fulfilment partner matters. A modern provider like fulfilmentcrowd supports customer retention by enabling:
When you start to view fulfilment as a strategic arm of your business – not just getting boxes from A to B – retention follows. Once this is in place, the discount buyers from peak season turn into long-term, profitable customers.