Newswise — The National Retail Federation’s latest study predicts the average shopper will spend $750 on gifts and holiday-related expenses in 2012, a slight increase of 4.1 percent over last year.
Consumer and branding expert Sheri Bridges, the faculty director of Wake Forest University’s Center for Retail Innovation, offers suggestions for retailers hoping to come out on top this holiday season.
Be aggressive. Be the first name linked to “Christmas shopping.” If a store can get inside the consumer’s head before it becomes cluttered with the inevitable holiday “to do” list, then the great deals, or fantastic assortment, or unique items, or whatever else the retailer is offering just might be top-of-mind when it’s time to start shopping. The bigger the deal, the more the incentive to buy. Pre-season promotional effectiveness is directly related to the size of the deals. Not everyone is inclined to start shopping for Christmas before Black Friday. But if the incentive is large enough – quantities are limited or the discount is too good to ignore – then consumer inertia can be overcome. If the deals are frequent enough and big enough to deplete inventory, then December availability of “hot items” could be affected. But if that happens, retailers can pull out all the stops to convince consumers that other, plentiful items are just as desirable.
Make both brick and mortar and online shopping easy. Holiday shopping can sometimes take on the characteristics of military warfare. For those lucky consumers who already know what they’re buying, shopping can be a short, decisive blitzkrieg in which the focus is on identifying retailers that have what they need and figuring out which of those retailers — online or offline — offer the best possible prices. In, out, done.
Offer variety and service. For consumers who are struggling with gift ideas, shopping can be a protracted offensive. Wandering, “just looking,” browsing and comparing will be a part of their holiday shopping battle to find the perfect present for each individual on their list. Consequently, these shoppers are concerned with assortment (more is better than less) and service, “What would be a good gift for a 13-year-old boy?”
Bridges says that shoppers this year will continue to find the Internet a welcome refuge, especially those who are unsure of what to purchase. These gift seekers will comb the Web from the comfort of their couches and rely on consumer posts for reviews and advice.
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