Britt Beemer
Britt Beemer
apparel benefit cause colder completed created dollars excitement form holiday hot percent research sales shopping spent start top watch weather weekend
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.
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Retail sales were pretty good, considering at the start of the season we were looking at $3 gasoline and were still recovering from the hurricanes. Consumers got out early and responded to early-bird specials, but there wasn't much new. There was no hot toy or hot apparel look.
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This summer, the consumer was cautious, with all the uncertainty going on in the country. But almost all of those worries are gone, and that is good news at the start of the holiday season.
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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.
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The trouble today with retailers is they can't afford to have too many underperforming stores. When 10 percent of your stores are unprofitable, you will start losing money. That wasn't the case years ago.
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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.
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.
advised battles clients fight might types
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.
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At this point in the buying season, parents have only spent $71.96 so far, so there is time for stores to get aggressive and drive more sales,
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Consumers this year just never got enamored with what they saw.
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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.