Top 10 holiday spending myths revealed
With consumer surveys and holiday forecasts a dime dozen this time of year, Customer Growth Partners CEO Craig Johnson offers his take on some of the biggest fallacies regarding retail spending.
Customer Growth Partners, a consulting and research firm focused on retail and other consumer industries has determined that the top 10 biggest holiday myths of 2014 are:
10. There is no “must-have” Holiday gift this year. Wrong. Apple’s iPhone 6 Plus model remains very hot, and even Apple stores typically sell out by noon on days shipments arrive.
9. Apple iPhone 6 will be the most common gift. Wrong again. Year-in and year-out, sweaters remain the most frequently gifted item.
8. Toys are passé as kids as switch to electronics. Wrong. At least for girls, “Frozen”s various incarnations, notably talking or singing Elsa’s, are routinely sold out online and in-stores.
7. The interval from Thanksgiving to Christmas can alter total sales. Poorly performing retailers use late Thanksgivings as an excuse, but November-December always has 61 days.
6. Opening on Thanksgiving will increase sales. No. Expanding your opening hours during the Black Friday weekend does not increase the demand pool—it simply shifts it forward.
5. The “Christmas Lull” is itself a myth. In fact, the growing Black Friday hype, now into earlier November, pulls demand forward from December into November—without boosting total sales.
4. “Cyber Monday” is the biggest online day. Cyber Monday is a creation of the e-Retail trade association. Dec. 20, the last day for Amazon Prime Christmas arrival, will be the big day.
3. Falling gasoline price are boosting Holiday sales. Gas prices are 9% below last year, saving consumers about $5 billion this season—but that decline is more than offset by food costs which are up about $10 billion from 2013.
2. Thanksgiving will remain a treasured American tradition. Not after dinner. Mom is now shopping the stores online, dads brave the crowds for the hourly deals, kids have made the evening and midnight shopping a social occasion, and Black Friday madness is now spreading to England, Japan and China.
1. Well, at least Black Friday is still the biggest shopping day. Wrong. Black Friday has been hollowed out, with the big specials at Walmart, Best Buy, Target and others also pushed forward to Thanksgiving evening, if not a week earlier. The last Saturday before Christmas, Dec. 20, as consumers continue to buy closer to need, particularly luxury and online shoppers will be biggest.