It’s that time of year: Festive music plays non-stop, themed decorations are up in your favorite big-box and boutique stores, and shoppers are on a mission to check everything off that list. From retailers to restaurants, the holidays mean celebration, connection, and family—but they also hopefully bring the seasonal sales boost that comes with gift exchanges and gatherings.
As always, brands need to pick up the pace and adapt to where, when, and how customers are shopping this year. While in-store sales or in-person visits are still a great chance for product test drives, last-minute gifts, and impulse buys, mobile is, increasingly, holiday shoppers’ channel of choice. The secret to holiday success is real-time, user-friendly digital tools that let them snag deals and info in seconds. Here’s the starring role short links and QR Codes are playing in 2025 holiday sales.
How digital tools drive the shopping season
Not so long ago, holiday gift-seekers’ only option was to drive to their local department store to browse gifts. Next, online shopping from their home computer was the latest and greatest innovation. Finally, smartphones gave them a direct line to browse and order products from the palm of their hand.
2025 marks an inflection point that’s long been on its way: Adobe projects this to be the first full year that mobile spend makes up for over 50% of online spend. When it comes to the holiday season, Adobe predicts mobile revenue share will hit a record 56.1%, with 7 in 10 retail site visits taking place on mobile devices.
Holiday shopping journeys are more unpredictable than ever. Shoppers might see something in stores, take a closer look on their desktop, and decide to pull the trigger from their phone even later. And because shoppers are especially cost-conscious this year, they’re likely to take more time to consider what they’ll buy, wait for a deal, or compare options. But they’ll often make a final decision from their phones. Brands need to optimize any and every interaction to make it easy for shoppers to interact on mobile, no matter where they are.
Adding even more complexity, shoppers are also making their purchases earlier in the season than before. Plenty of people have already bought many of their gifts for the 2025 holidays. Sellers need to plan for these adjusted timelines and consumers’ new purchase patterns, including their desire to research and purchase from their phones, whether they’re at home or in stores. Mobile strategies can drive customers from an in-store experience to an online touchpoint with your brand or convert them from offline signage to a digital subscription, checkout, or Buy Online, Pay In Store (BOPIS) interaction.
Instant analytics for flexible campaigns
Digital touchpoints, like short links and QR Codes, signal more than a quick click or scan. They bridge your customer experience from one channel to another, and they capture valuable information about your audience.
Consumers can make purchases in less than a minute from their smartphones or deliberate for weeks (via an open tab in their browser). Your marketing team needs to be able to see when, where, and why shoppers are clicking and scanning:
- Which email campaigns are catching their attention?
- Is your new SMS strategy driving consistent clicks?
- Which ads or offers turn into purchases?
- How often does an in-person connection go digital?
Real-time first-party data collection like Bitly Analytics gives you this information (and more) so you can report on results as they come in. And flexibility features like dynamic QR Codes and link redirects let you make real-time changes to send customers to the right place on your site. In a smartphone-driven, early, and cost-conscious holiday season, digital tools make all the difference for your mobile sales.
Holiday short links and QR Codes: 7 ideas
Trackable digital touchpoints drive attention to tempting offers, create engaging in-store experiences, and save shoppers time. Plus, they give your brand instant feedback and user-friendly workflows to adapt your destinations, depending on demand or underperformance.
As you refine your end-of-year marketing strategy, add these use cases for short links and QR Codes to your list (before you check it twice), and watch them boost your mobile sales:
- Flash sale SMS and WhatsApp messages: Customers signing up to receive texts from your brand is like winning the loyalty lottery because they have opted into real-time offers, straight from their smartphone. With high open and clickthrough rates, SMS and WhatsApp are the perfect channels to send limited-time deals with a branded short link.
- Flexible payment and checkout options: Guide your busy shoppers to skip the lines or choose a more convenient way to pay. Provide QR Codes to check out online via their preferred platform or download on-the-go options to scan as they shop.
- From in-store to online ordering: Even when they’re shopping in-person, customers might want to browse or purchase online for many reasons, from additional selection or out-of-stock items to limited trunk space for that new appliance. Share QR Codes to allow direct access to place an online order from their mobile phone.
- Direct mail, flyer, and OOH holiday promos: Consumers spend much of their time on screens, but that’s all the more reason traditional channels break through the noise with an innovative offer or targeted promo. A QR Code on your direct mail campaign or billboard can remind shoppers of a gift they’ve been meaning to purchase, letting them scan and buy in minutes.
- Gifting guides and suggestions: The holidays are a great time to upsell shoppers and advise them on other gifts that might be perfect for friends or family members. On shelving signage, share a short, branded link to a Bitly Page featuring pairings or packages based on a product they already know their loved one will love.
- Interactive quizzes: The holidays aren’t just for treating others; plenty of shoppers take advantage of deals to treat themselves, too. A quick, themed quiz—courtesy of a QR Code or memorable branded link—can help them choose the right product or shade while driving valuable first- and zero-party audience data.
- Policy change signage: This year, some major retailers are adjusting policies like return windows and refund methods. If you’re doing the same, share these updates with shoppers using a QR Code at store entrances or on receipts to keep customers in the loop and ensure they aren’t surprised later.
The holidays may be the happiest season of all, but they can also be the most hectic. Digital touchpoints support consumers and brands alike, helping both groups move quickly and adapt to all that the celebrations have in store.
5 tips for smarter seasonal workflows
During the holidays, marketers simply need more—more time, more performance insights, and more engagement that leads to sales. With every campaign you create, sign you design, or product you promote, digital tools make it easier to understand what’s working and boost digital connections that lead to checkout. Try these tips for more efficient and effective holiday campaigns designed to drive mobile sales.
1. Create custom branded short links
Put your best foot forward across every digital campaign with custom-branded short links. Paid plans with the Bitly Connections Platform let you apply your domain to all your URLs, so shoppers can tell at a glance that short links came from a trusted source. Just seeing your brand’s name in their texts or social media feed can remind them of a gift they’ve been meaning to pick up. Branded links build trust and drive clicks, wherever your customers encounter them.
2. Use link redirects and dynamic QR Codes
When your sales change or inventory shifts, you need the flexibility to change the destination of that campaign from last month (or even an hour ago). Within minutes, you can send audiences to a different page if a URL is underperforming or failing to convert purchases. A successful season is an adaptable one where you can make changes to keep up with the needs of your shoppers and the needs of the business.
3. Add conversion tracking
Trackable short links and QR Codes give you actionable data points to show the campaigns that are clicking with your audience—literally! Get even more granular details by pairing Bitly with Google Analytics. Create holiday short links in Bitly, then head over to Google Analytics to add conversion tracking for each URL. You’ll be able to see how many of the link clicks drove purchases (or your conversion category of choice) for smarter decision-making all season long.
4. Measure and adapt often
Your January review of the holiday season is sure to be an insightful recap of your audience and their needs—but you shouldn’t wait until then to look at the data and adjust your strategy. In fact, during the holiday season, you should revisit your metrics more often than normal to ensure you can keep up with the rapid pace of play. A real-time dashboard like Bitly Analytics lets you watch audience engagement as it happens. If you notice a spike in clicks and scans in a certain region, consider a last-minute in-store campaign to boost sales. If a referring channel is performing better than expected, you might redirect ad spend there.
5. Keep your tools connected
Integrations make the tech world go ‘round, saving retail marketers time and effort during their busiest season. Bitly integrates with many of your favorite tools, from social media management tools to automation apps. Now, you can even boost efficiency with AI-powered link management, thanks to our integration with ChatGPT. Streamline your reporting, branding, and organization with integrations that help your holiday marketing sparkle and save your team time.
Merrier marketing with digital connections
Adaptability is the greatest gift you can give your marketing team this holiday season. If you have any chance of reaching customers across their often-unpredictable journeys this year, your tools need to keep up with their mobile shopping habits.
Bitly’s suite of solutions helps you share convenient, user-friendly ways to learn more, get in touch, or buy in minutes, making seasonal shopping that much easier. Along the way, you gain audience insights to power your marketing strategy well into the new year and update campaigns faster than you can say, “Happy holidays.” Redecorate your seasonal strategy with short links, QR Codes, and mobile-friendly landing pages by signing up for Bitly today.
