Viewpoint ShopperTrak: Less 2011 Holiday in-store foot traffic

The first comes from ShopperTrak — the world’s largest provider of retail foot traffic counting, managed services and business analytics. So this is the measured, non-emotional approach based on tracking in-store activity at over 25,000 [Read More]]]> Here are two different viewpoints on retail store shopping trends for the 2011 Holiday season.

Viewpoint ShopperTrak: Less 2011 Holiday in-store foot traffic

The first comes from ShopperTrak — the world’s largest provider of retail foot traffic counting, managed services and business analytics. So this is the measured, non-emotional approach based on tracking in-store activity at over 25,000 locations nationwide. Ok, brick and mortar retailers, read it and weep!

“Holiday sales and traffic historically account for approximately 20 percent of annual retail activity. With U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth disappointing in the first half of 2011, the forecast indicating holiday retail sales and traffic is a key marker of the nation’s economic health. ShopperTrak’s 3.0 percent holiday sales increase prediction follows 19 consecutive months of year-over-year U.S. retail sales growth. The expected increase is moderate compared to the 2010 holiday season’s 4.1 percent sales increase over 2009.

Conversely to sales, ShopperTrak expects foot traffic to continue decreasing through the end of 2011, due to high unemployment rates and gas prices seeing a 33 percent increase this season over last. So far this year, shoppers have visited an average of 3.10 stores per shopping trip, down from 3.19 per shopping trip in 2010 and far less than the four to five stores visited in early 2008 — prior to the recession.  Converting fewer numbers of shoppers to buyers has never been more important for retailers who understand this critical retail health indicator.”

Viewpoint Trendwatching: More shoppers want the real life experience!

Now for another viewpoint, one based on the human drive to seek out interaction and experience. This is the emotional side of retail, and one we prefer to focus on because, unlike international economic struggles,  it is within the power of every retailer to influence and leverage to produce more sales and customer satisfaction. Measured in a different way than ShopperTrak, Rainier Evers uses the the observations and input of over 8,000 trendwatchers worldwide to take the pulse of retail. Here is his 2011 shopping prediction for a RETAIL RENAISSANCE.

” Smart retailers are defying doom and gloom scenarios, as they realize that shopping in the real world will forever satisfy consumers’ deep rooted needs for human contact, for instant gratification, for the promise of (shared) experiences, for telling stories. Hence the flurry of new formats, technologies, capabilities, and products that now are delighting retail customers around the world.”

He carries on with four specific ways that in-store is beating online as the shopping experience of choice. Don’t miss Trend Watching. Always a great site for insight and inspiration.

National Retail Federation The [Read More]]]> Black Friday Results
Mixed results for Black Friday 2010 encouraged retailers but were not overwhelmingly positive. Continued discounting is anticipated as retailers seek to ensure increased sales volume for the remainder of the holiday shopping season. Here are some Black Friday results as reported by leading retail organizations and retail trend watchers.

National Retail Federation
The NRF Black Friday Survey for 2010 reports increased sales for 2010 totaling over $45 billion. Shoppers competing for Black Friday deals increased from 195 million in 2009 to over 212 million this year.
Spend per customer also increased from an average of $345 to about $365 in 2010.

International Council of Shopping Centers
ICSC’s pre-Black Friday predictions for increased sales and traffic proved to be a bit high but were on track overall. Their Black Friday Survey also showed over 75% of shoppers would visit at least one discount store and the majority also planned to shop for themselves. Increased traffic at Walmart seemed to bear this out.

Wall Street Journal
The WSJ published a number of Black Friday 2010 articles and reporting “another uncertain holiday season for retailers.” The small year over last increase in overall Black Friday sales results (+0.3%) was partly attributed to early November discounting that had already eaten up some customer spending budget.

Black Friday Trends
Continuing a Black Friday trend from last year, many large retailers opened as early as midnight in an attempt to capture that first burst of customer spending. By 4:00 AM over 24% of shoppers were already in the stores. With an average spend of $365.34, retailers wanted to be at the front end of each customer’s shopping expedition.

Another promising trend is a swing toward more discretionary big ticket buys such as jewelry and electronics. Gift card sales remained popular, increasing marginally from Black Friday 2009.

Shoppers also continue to limit their exposure to fees and interest charges by using cash instead of credit cards for purchases.

Finally, the trend of shoppers taking advantage of Black Friday discounting to buy items for themselves is an interesting development that may be reflected in 2011 Black Friday advertising campaigns.

Black Friday Summary
Overall and decent Black Friday for retailers with improved traffic and sales moderated by the need to offer deep discounts. Interesting shopping trends emerged including earlier store openings and more shoppers grabbing bargains for themselves.

Hispanic buying power

Thirty major consumer, sports and services brands such as Subway, Clorox, H&R Block and the NBA have joined the Latinum Network. These companies pool their database information and cross reference Hispanic buying preferences, patterns, and demographics. The idea is to develop a deeper [Read More]]]> Some interesting retail ideas and trends from around the web:

Hispanic buying power

Thirty major consumer, sports and services brands such as Subway, Clorox, H&R Block and the NBA have joined the Latinum Network. These companies pool their database information and cross reference Hispanic buying preferences, patterns, and demographics. The idea is to develop a deeper understanding of the Latino consumer and to discover new marketing, product and service ideas that go beyond simply translating the message into Spanish.

…this year’s census is in the books, it’s expected to show that the Latino population in the United States has topped 50 million. That’s a market worth as much as a trillion dollars. Businesses, obviously, want a piece of it.

Check out “Network helps brands reach Hispanics” at Markteplace

Social Shopping

Another great short piece from the crew at Marketplace takes a look at social shopping sites  where consumers share what they are buying. Two examples,  Blippy and Swipley,  use credit data, volunteered by consumers to publicly track their spending. Why, you may ask, would anyone want to publish a list of everything they buy? For now, perhaps just bragging rights, but soon the more you share the more you may get as companies scan your purchase and compete.

Shouldn’t shoppers be concerned about their privacy?

Yes, says Antony Lee. He’s CEO of start-up WeShop.com, an online shopping network. Lee says consumers should be concerned — that if they give away their privacy, they’re getting something in return.

Antony Lee CEO of start up WeShop.com: I think the privacy debate is actually the wrong way around. The privacy debate shouldn’t be about what is being taken. It should be about the value of what’s being taken and who’s entitled to that value.

Lee says WeShop will let consumers trade directly with retailers — data for deals.

Check out “Social–shopping sites high in data value” at Marketplace

Location Based Services

Have you checked in on FourSquare lately? You say you haven’t played Foursquare since grade school? You need to catch up with the modern world and start using your cell phone as God intended… as a tool to check in when visiting your favorite stores, bars, restaurants, etc.  The latest addition to the location craze is Be There.  Urban retailers here is your chance to capture that street traffic that keeps walking by. BeThere members enable their smartphones to accept deals directly from you when they are in your neighborhood. One hour to closing and you still have ten dozen cupcakes to sell? Use Be There’s instant ad generator to broadcast your buy one get one free offer. Cool idea but it requires quite a bit of momentum on both the buying and selling side. Only available in San Francisco for now but check it out at Be There.com.  Free during the beta  but eventually offering a pay for performance model that retailers will appreciate.

Germ Killing Uniforms

Vestex has developed a line scrubs for medical professionals that forms a barrier against bacteria and actually kills bacteria that comes into contact with the fabric. Designed for doctors and nurses but perhaps a good idea for employees (fewer sick days!) and maybe everyone will want this fabric in their garments.

Vestagen was winning converts. Wilma Schmidt says her experience in Haiti made her a believer. “I was working in 95 to 100 degree temperatures and I would be soaked with sweat, but the uniform — inside and out — dried very quickly,” she says. “I felt protected and cool. It was amazing.”

The CNN article is here.

RESTON, VA, February 9, 2010 – comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released its Q4 2009 U.S. retail e-commerce sales estimates, which showed that online retail spending reached $39 billion, up 3 percent versus year ago. Total retail e-commerce spending reached $129.8 [Read More]]]> Here it is straight from the horse’s…comScore’s… mouth

RESTON, VA, February 9, 2010 – comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released its Q4 2009 U.S. retail e-commerce sales estimates, which showed that online retail spending reached $39 billion, up 3 percent versus year ago. Total retail e-commerce spending reached $129.8 billion for the full year 2009, marginally below the previous year’s total of $130.1 billion.

Happy days are here again! Unless of course you are a brick and mortar retailer.  However isn’t everyone an online retailer now in one form or another Yahoo! Stores, Shopify, Amazon Craigslist, eBay etc etc…

Lots of interstesting stats and the full press release is here