Britt Beemer
Britt Beemer
buying cards christmas customers free gift money protective value
Customers are being just as protective with their gift cards as they were with their own money when buying Christmas gifts. The idea of free money is all in the past. They want value or something very special.
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Gift cards are strongest when there's nothing to buy.
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Gift cards are becoming an easier gift to give. Of course, nobody ever returned cash, either.
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Oldsmobile demand and sales did not collapse overnight. GM sat back and watched it happen, ... Your father's car ultimately became a hearse. You've got to have product categories that are growing categories. The four-door sedan is not the growing category.
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One thing that shocked me was that the number of consumers planning to buy gift cards this Christmas is not as big as last year.
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About 30% of people who got gift cards plan to use them this week. Many retailers are going to be putting out spring merchandise to get people excited about it.
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Starting in the late 1980s, employees and prospective employees in the retail sector stopped looking at retail as a career opportunity. They look at it as a temporary stopover until something better comes along. When this happens, everybody loses -- employees, customers, stores, etc.
certain happens known product retailers return
What's happens is retailers become known for certain things. You want to be known for some product category. You want to be known for a return policy.
christmas consumers seen
I've never seen this many consumers not done with their Christmas shopping.
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Electronics is particularly hot cause there is nothing else that has created much excitement for consumers. Our research indicates that 44 percent of shoppers have completed their holiday shopping and about 20 percent still have to start it. This weekend we think more dollars will be spent overall. Apparel sales could benefit form colder weather but watch out for electronics to come out on top again.
categories continue growth lead sales
Electronics continue to lead all categories in year-over-year sales growth for the holidays.
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The success of GM's employee discount sale is a great example that consumers still are in a mood to buy. However, I think Christmas spending could be a little narrower than last year.
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I've advised clients that when you get into these types of situations, the PR battles are so bad. You might as well get out of it and not fight it.
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(Teens) are hard to market to because they have to see the final product before they can tell you whether they like it. When you lose teen customers, it's hard to get them back.