After I shared some observations about a fall shopping trip, my wife Tami wondered whether we’d get to do similar anecdotal research around Christmas time.
A couple of hours later, she sent me a link that can save us a trip.
Unity Marketing shared some sobering highlights from their outlook for the holiday shopping season.
For Christmas 2009 shoppers are putting the brakes on spending by cutting their gift lists and buying gift items that people really need. Even among the affluent (people incomes at the top 20 percent of U.S. households), Unity Marketing’s latest survey found that nearly 40 percent expect to spend less on holiday gifts this year as compared to last year, and 50 percent expect to spend about the same.
The underlying psychology of shoppers has shifted away from extravagant, generous spending toward a frugal approach and that change in shopper psychology has shifted the future of the retail sector. Most analysts predict sales declines of 1 percent this holiday shopping season following the 2.4 drop experienced last year, but some analysts are even more pessimistic.
The consumer sentiment is being reflected in retailer planning for the holiday season.
Embattled retailers are making adjustments to stay the course as sales drag. A recent Hay Group survey among 25 top retailers found that inventory levels are down relative to last year and staffing levels are off. Fully 64 percent of the retailers surveyed said that they have lower than normal staffing levels. For shoppers that will translate into less attentive service and longer lines; for retailers that will mean missed opportunities and lost sales.
