Loyalty Marketing

Black Friday may be considered one of the biggest shopping events of the year, but interest among consumers continues to dwindle.   Specifically, 31% of respondents in the United States said they have always disliked shopping on Black Friday, and 29% believe it is simply a marketing trick with retailers manipulating pricing to convince consumers they are getting a good deal.   

For the eighth year running, Newegg is giving shoppers access to special Black Friday promotions during the entire month of November.   A program designed to make it more convenient to shop for the season¹s most sought-after products, Newegg’s promotional month will highlight specific sales that will last for a full week.  

Year-round e-commerce sales and discounting have dulled the impact of traditional Black Friday sales for many consumers.   These shoppers are so desensitized to “Black Friday hype” that nearly three in four respondents (73%) said they prefer to do their holiday shopping outside of the holiday season, during e-commerce sales, such as Amazon Prime Day. These preferences have influenced 47% of shoppers to skip Black Friday or Cyber Monday altogether this year, according to the second annual “JDA Consumer Survey.”

With Halloween now behind us, the unofficial start of the 2016 retail holiday season is upon us. Amid intensifying competition, where are retailers placing their bets?     Here are observations and expectations from Profitero for the critical fourth quarter seasonal period:   

For every shopper that asks “Alexa, what are your holiday deals?,” Amazon now has answers.    The Internet giant has officially kicked off the holiday countdown with the launch of its Black Friday Deals Store and curated holiday gift guides, along with an array of other digital services geared to attract shoppers this shopping season.   

Social media is increasingly influencing the shopper’s entire path-to-purchase.  

Office Depot is giving holiday shoppers almost a month-long head start on the season.    The office supplies company is kicking off Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals on Oct. 30 — a move that it anticipates will save its loyal shoppers time and money this holiday season. Deals will be available at stores, as well as on the Office Depot’s website.  

The upcoming United States presidential election is so tumultuous that it’s influencing shoppers to pull back holiday shopping plans.    With the election falling in the middle of holiday shopping, many U.S. consumers said they will have a more conservative holiday spending budget this year, according to the National Retail Federation’s annual consumer spending survey, a report that tapped 7,733 consumers about holiday shopping plans.   

Regardless of when retailers start their sales, Black Friday weekend is shaping up to feature the biggest deals yet.   According to BlackFriday.fm, a website that tracks the best Black Friday deals, news, and ad scans, “the Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales are going to be bigger than ever this year, “ said Rene Kirschbaum, director of BlackFriday.fm.   Among the retailers to watch include:  

A rough summer season, and an adjusted fiscal year end, took a toll on Gymboree’s third quarter earnings.   The retailer’s net sales for the three months ended July 30, 2016, were $250.3 million, a decrease of 4% compared to $261.8 million for the three months ended August 1, 2015.