Winter Holidays

From increased budgets to a desire for free shipping to gifts for pets, PwC’s “2016 Holiday Outlook” report predicts the following trends will drive the upcoming holiday season:    1. Bigger holiday budgets: Shoppers will likely spend 10% more this holiday season; an average of $1,121 each. And consumers with annual household incomes less than $50,000 will likely increase their percentage spending levels even more than consumers overall.  

In line with Staples, more retailers are choosing to turkey over Thanksgiving Day sales.    Retailers across a variety of categories — from club stores and discount chains to department stores — are letting “their employees enjoy the holiday with their families instead of staffing the cash registers” on Thanksgiving, according to a story in the Sun Herald.  

Eyeing a strong holiday season, Pier 1 is working on a new fulfillment strategy to meet omnichannel shopper demand.   As the home decor retailer continues to focus on how to enhance its digi-tal channel, Pier 1 is turning its attention to drop-ship capabilities. By working with third-party suppliers, the chain will be able to augment its assortment, and “test new categories with much less risk using vendor-owned inventory,” Alexander Smith said during the company’s earnings call on Wednesday.   

For the second year in a row, Staples will close its stores on Thanksgiving.   Shoppers, however, will be able shop the office supplies giant’s e-commerce site.   

With the holidays right around the corner, retailers are already setting up for the biggest shopping season of the year. This year, retail revenue for the holidays is expected to surpass $1 trillion, compared to last year’s total of $626.1 billion.   One of the many holiday preparations brands are making to deal with this influx is bulking up in-store resources. At least 700,000 short-term retail jobs are assumed to be added across the U.S. this holiday season, helping brands fill gaps in-stores and on the back-end.  

The Bon-Ton Stores is getting its holiday team in place.   The department store chain is eyeing 13,000 new associates to service customers across all store locations during the busy holiday season. Another 500 associates will fill positions across all of Bon-Ton Stores’ distribution centers and its e-commerce fulfillment center.  

According to eMarketer’s holiday sales preview forecast, ecommerce will surpass 10% of total U.S. holiday retail sales for the first time this year.    Total retail sales will increase 3.3% over the same period last year, to $884.50 billion, according to the report.   Holiday retail ecommerce sales will jump to $94.71 billion, representing 10.7% of total holiday retail sales.  

Americans will open their purses for holiday shopping regardless of whether Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump wins the election.      A survey of American voters by RetailNext found the vast majority will not let the outcome of election 2016 affect their planned spending this coming holiday season.   

A high-quality site experience makes Amazon the place where more than half (55%) of consumers go to first for products online.    That’s according to the second annual “State of Amazon” study from personalization platform company BloomReach, which found that search engines and retailers lost almost equal ground with consumers, 28% and 16% respectively, while Amazon increased its share by 11% over last year. Fifty-three percent felt Amazon had the best site experience overall.  

Mark your calendars. Free Shipping Day, the one-day online event featuring free shipping with no minimum order requirement and delivery by Christmas Eve, is scheduled this year for Friday, Dec. 16.

"While we try to schedule the event one week before Christmas Eve, the calendar doesn't always accomodate," said Luke Knowles, founder of Free Shipping Day.  "What sets Free Shipping Day apart from other shopping holidays is small business participation.”