Winter Holidays

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.”

E-commerce may lose some appeal among shoppers this holiday season.   While some industry analysts are predicting more than 15% increases in e-commerce growth during the 2016 shopping season, NetElixir’s “2016 Holiday Outlook” report predicts that e-commerce growth may only hit 11%. This conservative gain is being blamed on earlier-than-usual promotions and purchasing of holiday gifts; retailers’ use of online marketplaces rather than exclusively selling directly on their sites, and the uncertain political environment.

Retailers should see a modest uptick in holiday sales this year. But the news isn’t all positive for big chains or even major online retailers.   

This year, Hanukkah and Christmas Eve both fall on the last Saturday before Christmas, dubbed Super Saturday, which is likely to have a dramatic impact on traffic on that day.   

Forget apparel, electronics and gift cards. Free shipping is expected to be the most-coveted wish among many shoppers this holiday season.   That’s according to the “The September 2016 Holiday Retail Report” from Radial and CFI Group, in which 91% of respondents said they would be willing to increase the size of their online order to qualify for free shipping.  

Macy’s is the latest retailer to announce it will hire roughly the same amount of holiday employees as last year.    This holiday season, the department store giant plans to hire approximately 83,000 associates for positions across its Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s stores, call centers, distribution centers and online fulfillment centers nationwide.