Are You Ready?
Black Friday has in recent years been the prime shopping day of the season. Then came Cyber Monday, and now we have Thanksgiving Day and Small Business Saturday. The question is whether the creation of these special Holiday Season shopping times has increased or decreased sales for retailers.
In a recent article for National Retail Federation, Kathy Grannis and Treacy Reynolds report some interesting news about preliminary shopping predictions for the upcoming marathon shopping days. Here are just a few of the insights from NRF:
· 140 million shoppers are expected to take advantage of Thanksgiving Weekend deals, both in stores and online.
· Of the 61.1% who will or may shop in stores and online over the Thanksgiving Weekend, 18.3% (25.6 million) say they will check out retailers’ deals and shop Thursday. This is down from the preliminary 23.5% last year.
· More than two-thirds (68.2%) will shop on Black Friday (95.5 million), two in five (42.9%) will shop on Saturday (60 million), and one in five (21.6%) will shop on Sunday (30.3 million).
· When it comes to younger shoppers, shopping on Thanksgiving Day and/or Black Friday is more than just a shopping day–it is a social experience. This is a chance to enjoy the tradition of being with friends and family for the kickoff of the best shopping season of the year. Eight in ten 18-24 year olds will or may shop over the weekend. This is the highest of any age group.
It appears that although the predicted shopping trend is down for Thanksgiving Day, the other days are picking up, making it an opportunity for retailers to increase their sales for the weekend. The predictions are not in yet for what might happen on Cyber Monday.
Are you prepared for the rush? Is your POS System geared to keep your inventory stocked and in order? Is your signage up-to-date and ready to announce holiday special offers? Are you connecting with your customers to target your advertising to specific groups? Are you set up for mobile and web sales?
NCR’s Counterpoint POS System has helpful features like great inventory control, CustomerConnect, CPMobile, and NiceLabels that will help you profit the most from this important season. If you want more details, we are available at 800/425-672-4806 or you can email us. You’ll be glad you did!