Oh how the holiday retail landscape has changed over the past decade. It used to be that folks would leisurely enjoy their Thanksgiving feast, sleep off said feast, then line up on “Black Friday” at the crack of dawn to get in on the big deals they were after. While the Friday after Thanksgiving is still the official start of the holiday shopping season, things have certainly changed. Thanksgiving is no longer off limits – many retailers are open. In fact, consumers can shop at stores or online before the Thanksgiving meal has been cleared from the table.

While Black Friday still holds its own as the most significant shopping holiday on the calendar, there are now a multitude of shopping holidays competing for attention. Between Black Friday, Small Business Saturday (we on the Porch always encourage shopping small and shopping local), Cyber Monday, Free Shipping Day and Super Saturday (the last Saturday before Christmas), it’s hard to know when the best time to do your holiday shopping is. These “holidays” were created to boost holiday sales and lure us in with the promise to save big on every item on our lists.

Here are some numbers to put things into perspective:

• The National Retail Federation expects holiday retail sales in November and December — excluding automobiles, gasoline and restaurants — to increase between 4.3 and 4.8 percent over 2017. Total spending is expected to range from $717.45 billion to $720.89 billion.
• According to NRF, for some retailers, the holiday season can represent as much as 30 percent of annual sales with hobby, toy and game stores reporting the highest percentage, accounting for approximately 30.1 percent of their sales during the 2017 holiday season. Overall, last year holiday sales represented nearly 20 percent of total retail industry sales.

Do you jump right in after Thanksgiving and knock out everything on your list? Or are you one of the 40% that begins holiday shopping before Halloween? Do you hold out for possibly better deals with the chance of not getting what you want? Or do you usually procrastinate and hope for the best? It takes all kinds!

The good news this year is that the gap between Thanksgiving and Christmas is long – 32 days whereas next year will only be 26 (although Hanukkah is early this year). That means retailers have more time to lure us in and those who usually wait to shop, well, you have more time to wait.

The forecast for holiday sales is good this year, but we’ll have to wait a few more weeks to see how the shopping season plays out. In the meantime, I’ve got some shopping to do!

Well folks, it’s August! The final month of summer … how you doing? Are you surviving? Are you ready for fall? Summer is my second favorite season and fall is my first! I can’t wait for football, school, my kids sports, and routine; but also immensely enjoy summer adventures, long days, beautiful sunsets and all the water things.

August is The Time for Some Serious Marketing Talk!

Did you see or participate in any ‘Christmas in July’ sales last month?  American advertisers began using Christmas in July themes in print for summertime sales as early as 1950. It is typically used as a marketing tool and is not an actual holiday. If you are interested in a little marketing history you can learn more here. We think this tactic is fine, but we find it to be a bit of a snoozer.

Here’s our take on the term Christmas in July … we recommend planning for Christmas in July. Did you plan? No?!?! Well Christmas in August works too! With Q4 right around the corner it is time to get your marketing strategy and plan set. Especially if you are in retail!

Did you start the year with an annual marketing plan? GOOD FOR YOU. Now is the time to dust it off and do an assessment. We like the start, stop, continue approach. Are your tactics accomplishing your goals? CONTINUE. Is the tactic not producing results? STOP. Need to start something new to achieve your goals? START. We are firm believers that all marketing plans are working documents. Make sure you are working your plan and your plan is working.

Don’t Have a Plan?

Now is the time! Seriously. Q4 is the busiest quarter of the year and you don’t want your messages and initiatives to be reactive. You want a proactive plan to make the most of year end. Don’t know where to start? We are rockin’ plans and plan reviews for the likes of Mister Sweeper, Faith Family Academy, The GEM, Ellen Hoffman Designs and more. We would love to ROCK around your Christmas tree (and by that we mean your marketing plan).

You have a few weeks to get the last of your summer lovin’ in and be ready for Holiday 2017. Let’s go!

If you have worked in retail for any amount of time, you know just how important the Friday and Monday after Thanksgiving – known as Black Friday and Cyber Monday – are to the retail cycle. If you are just starting out, here’s the scoop:

Black Friday kicks off the critical holiday season for retailers and is traditionally the busiest shopping day of the year. It is a crucial opportunity for all retail because approximately 30 percent of annual sales occur between Black Friday and Christmas. For some retailers, such as jewelers, it’s even higher — nearly 40 percent.

According to our very own Rock, Tara Engelland (who spent many years on the Galleria marketing team), “At Galleria Dallas, we were planning for the following year’s holiday before we finished the one we were in. We had some pretty big events that took place each year but we were always trying to think of new things to add that would enhance the shoppers’ experience.”

Today is Cyber Monday. Cyber Monday is the biggest online shopping day of the year. Last year, Adobe estimated it would reach $3 billion in sales.

So how do you market for Cyber Monday?

All things online should be promoted online, so your online strategy needs to be strong. Pull out all your online media stops! From social, email to banners and web, all channels should be pointing to your Cyber deal. Just like Black Friday, marketing plans should be made far in advance, particularly if your business is e-commerce only.

We worked closely with our Front Porch Client, Ellen Hoffman Designs, on her Cyber Monday strategy. We are blasting her Cyber Monday deal – 20% off her distinct, one-of-kind jewelry – across all social media platforms. If you would like to take advantage of her
Cyber Monday promotion, visit ellenhoffmandesigns.com and use the promo code Cyber20.

Black Friday 2016 is in the books. According to CNN Money: “It was a strong weekend for retailers, but an even better weekend for consumers, who took advantage of some really incredible deals,” said National Retail Federation (NRF) President and CEO Matthew Shay in a news release. Their full report is here.

How Cyber Monday 2016 stacks up against projections is yet to be seen. What we do know is that if you are in the retail sector, you should be thinking about Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2017. Are you? You should be. We can help.

Interested in learning more about Black Friday and Cyber Monday? These links give a nice broad base of information:

• Why Is Black Friday Called Black Friday?
• What Is the History of Black Friday?
• Where Are Black Friday Sales Deals?
• What Is Cyber Monday?

Happy shopping, happy marketing, happy retail!

These days it seems it’s hard to know when the best time to do your holiday shopping is between Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Free Shipping Day and Super Saturday, which are all made up days created to boost holiday sales.

Do you jump right in after Thanksgiving and knock out everything on your list? Or do you hold out for possibly better deals with the chance of not getting what you want? Or are you like me this year and got a really late start and are hoping for the best?

The National Retail Federation anticipates holiday sales this year will increase 4.1% over last year. Holiday retail sales reports have been very mixed this year. It started with a disappointing Black Friday, which is typically the busiest shopping day of the year. But despite a slow Thanksgiving weekend, November sales were actually up slightly over last year. It seems this can be attributed to an expansion in the sales season with retailers offering deep discounts as early as Halloween. With spotty sales reports so far this holiday season, retailers are now banking on Super Saturday, the last Saturday before Christmas, to make up for slow sales so far this year. In fact, according to ShopperTrak, Super Saturday is expected to surpass Black Friday as the top revenue-generating day of 2014 for brick-and-mortar stores. That means stores have to rely on procrastinators like me to save the holiday shopping season.

While the forecast for in-store sales is good this year, on-line holiday sales forecasts continue to grow year after year with Cyber Monday now being the biggest online shopping day of the year. Online sales are expected to grow 8 – 11% this year. The surge in online shopping shows holiday shoppers are in search of deals that are most convenient.

With lower gas prices and unemployment rates at a six-year low, retailers are hoping shoppers will have a little more cash to spend this holiday season. And with Christmas falling on Thursday this year, most people will have Friday off which will give them another opportunity to take advantage of after Christmas sales.

We’ll have to wait a few more days to see how the holiday shopping season ends up this year. In the meantime, I’ve got to get to it … Happy Shopping!