EXCLUSIVE: Timing, deals are key to Halloween and holiday pricing
Retailers need to carefully analyze customer behavior to obtain optimal results during the 2024 Halloween and holiday seasons.
Chain Store Age recently spoke with Matt Pavich, senior director of strategy and innovation at Revionics, an Aptos company specialized in pricing optimization solutions for retailers, about how retailers can utilize technology and strategy to maximize the return on their fall and winter holiday pricing and promotion efforts.
What tips do you have for retailers on Halloween pricing strategies
As we’ve already seen throughout 2024, consumers are looking for more promotions than ever before. Not surprisingly, price and promotions are deciding factors for consumers when considering where to shop for Halloween and the holiday season beyond.
There is market share to be won and there are customers to delight if retailers leverage the best analytics to promote the right products to maximize results this Halloween season.”
Can you summarize the key things to know about successful Halloween markdowns?
The most common mistake retailers make concerning markdown strategy for holidays like Halloween is that they wait too long to begin taking markdowns on their products. Time and time again, waiting until demand has completely fizzled is not the best way to delight customers, increase capture and sell-thru rates or maximize margin potential.
Halloween also lands at a time in the year when you’ll want that shelf space free for other stuff immediately, so the opportunity cost of waiting too long is magnified.
[READ MORE: Survey: Halloween spending expected to rise despite cost concerns]
What Halloween tips do you have related to promotions?
Look for ways to delight customers and get them to spend more per trip across multiple categories. Besides looking for those unique basket-building opportunities – which could include items such as mulled wine, matching mom and puppy witch outfits, ‘and/or Beetlejuice’-themed party plates, retailers need to remember that a large percentage of promotions are sub-optimal and that the right analytics can drive win-wins for shoppers and retailers alike.
In addition, online sales continue to grow across multiple retail segments, and retailers need to capitalize on this trend with stellar online deals this Halloween season.
Do you see consumer shopping and spending behaviors for Halloween as a bellwether for the 2024 holiday season?
Throughout 2024, the theme has been consistent across retail – inflation is down and sales are growing, but growing slower than in 2023. Pending any drastic Halloween outcomes, that trend should continue for the 2024 holiday season.
A few things are different, however, about this holiday season. To begin with, Thanksgiving falls on a later date, which will shorten the official holiday buying period by five days. Hanukkah also falls later than it did in 2023, which will cause the need to adjust some forecasts and plans vs. the prior year.
More importantly though, having a major election in the U.S. between Halloween and Christmas could have outcomes that impact consumer decisions and market conditions after Halloween in a way which wouldn’t have happened during the prior three years.
The election is already impacting media spend/advertising strategies in some markets and diverting consumer focus away from normal timelines. It remains to be seen how Halloween and this upcoming holiday season align when all the sales are counted.
