There are several Holiday shopping trends affecting sales this year. Also Americans are expected to spend more on Christmas purchases than they did last year despite mixed economic indicators. Yet while consumers are spending more money, they are still value shoppers and dollar stretchers. Shoppers are increasing the amount of time spent on research before hitting the stores. So you need to be following the trends so that the most customers end up shopping in your store.
The Shopping Earlier Trend
Buyers are striking out for the stores earlier this year than last year even though they are complaining about Christmas decorations being out before Halloween is even here. These shoppers are taking advantage of early sales. Extremely savvy shoppers even started their shopping in October. For you to be ready for these early shoppers, you need to have some items on sale, your sales staff has to be on top of things and you must decide whether or not to honor merchandise returns brought back after Christmas when the products were purchased two months beforehand. A lot of shoppers feel that if merchandise is bought early as a Christmas gift, these items should be able to be returned after Christmas.
Black Friday is also being upstaged a little by stores that are opening on Thanksgiving evening. With this increased pressure, you have to make the decision whether to close Thanksgiving for the whole day, open Thanksgiving evening or to perhaps open extremely early on Black Friday morning. If you don’t open early, you could lose many Black Friday sales.
The “Old Is New” Trend
Before the recession, layaway was a thing of the past. However, because of the recession, combined with the credit crunch, layaway is back stronger than ever. To draw customers to your store, having a layaway plan is an excellent option. In Christmas layaway, you hold the customer’s purchases for a small fee. The customer makes payments on the merchandise so it is paid off before Christmas. To give your customers more options, you could start your Christmas layaway program now (October for next Christmas) to lure in the early shoppers.
Another option that is popular is gift cards. By offering gift cards at your business, the recipients can bring in the cards to purchase what they want. They often end up buying more than they had originally planned. The card buyer’s advantage is the loss of the headache of trying to pick out exactly what they think the recipient would like. It is thoughtful, thoughtless buying.
The Online Movement
The online shopping movement is still growing. Because of this, some shoppers will visit your store first and then go home and purchase the product you showcased in the store online. Many shoppers don’t see a line between online and offline shopping, and if you handle things right, you won’t either. If your customers can have a seamless experience from store to internet, then you will most likely get the sales on your online outlet. These customers are better informed and the retailer that can connect with this type of customer is more successful.
It used to be that sales people only formed connections with the customer in person. Now with all the different options, stores can form connections both in shop and online. With all the latest shopping trends, you can be successful and profit from this holiday season if you put your customer first by connecting with their needs.
Image courtesy of Danilo Rizzuti / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
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