5 Retail Trends That Will Shape the Holiday Season
Forecasts are a mixed bag with many predicting flat to slightly increased sales.
In this fluid, rapidly changing economy, one thing is certain: It's going to be tough to predict until we're actually in the middle of the holiday shopping season.
Citigroup recently released its predictions, and businessinsider.com did a great little write up on it along with a few major trends we're going to see this holiday season. Click on through to the six slides that talk about the retail trends this holiday season. (Each slide features stats from 2009 and 2010 as well as a predictor for 2011 so you can see how, well, the trends are trending.)
Here are my thoughts on how these trends will affect entrepreneurial retailers:
Black Friday will be bigger than normal. Ouch! That's tough for small retailers, as no one has the marketing muscle power to promote their offers, nor does anyone have gross margin to spare to take a hit on profits. I suggest sitting on the sidelines for this one and letting the big boys duke it out.
Discounts will perform best. Um, duh. In a down economy, of course discounts will rule. But that doesn't mean you can't play in the game with the big national chains. Just make sure you're using discounts strategically to drive business during slower weeks or even days. And you know better than to put the whole store on sale, right?. People will be looking for deals -- just make they're on your terms so you don't give away all of your profits.
Concerns about the economy will drive spending decisions. Nuff said. And there's nothing you can do about the economy. But try offering value-adds like a gift with purchase, a smaller free service with the purchase of a larger service, and the like. Freebies might just be enough to get someone to spend at your store versus someone else's store.
Consumers are looking for bigger promotions. This was covered under discounts. The bigger the deal, the greater the chance that they'll spend. Unfortunately, retailers have taught shoppers not to shop unless there's a deal. And 30-50 percent is the magic number that shoppers look for before they act. So take note.
E-commerce gains momentum. Call it the 500-pound gorilla. Double-digit gains in e-commerce sales have been the norm for years. And that means that more shoppers are spending their time online instead of in your store. The only long-term option is to get in the game. But that's tough because the online world is really the "low price rules" world where shoppers don't care who is offering the product, so long it's a trustworthy site and the price is the lowest they can find anywhere.
That's why it's best to entice customers into your store with things they can't get online -- like events, promotions, deals, and other offerings that are valid only in-store.
Once again it's going to be a dog-eat-dog world this holiday season, with the proverbial discount bone as the prize. How are you going to take advantage of the trends to make your holiday season successful? Sound off below.
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