Where are customers hiding? Or are they?
1. Those who don’t have to do without, won’t. Luxury spending is on a steep rise despite the down economies in the US and Europe. Three years of a deep recession and 9%+ unemployment aren’t dampening the spirits of the bulls-eyed 1%. Even NY State’s Governor Andrew Cuomo won’t hit the millionaire wallet and handbag. States need every taxpayer they can get.
2. Ecommerce, the at-once General Admission concert seats and genteel private entrance, will continue to capture increasing growth and wallet-share. Led by search online and directed increasingly to handheld devices and tablets, consumers at home get the guilty pleasure, special discounts, free shipping and radically improved shopping experiences that they rarely get after sitting in traffic to get to their favorite retail store.
3. Brands that integrate their marketing channels will win. Consumers think they are already. Most aren’t. Those that don’t may not see what’s happening underneath their sales numbers given the likely positive Holiday growth numbers. Like most consumer-led disruption, though, future declines won’t be polite. Just ask NetBook manufacturers and the company trading under the symbol NFLX (Netflix). Click here for the latest in multi-channel whitepapers.
I’ve just returned from two retail-focused conferences (the 
After a week’s worth of intense scanning, reading, searching and analyzing performance data, it seems Moms, Dads and kids are swiping their cards, so to speak. Click and conversion rates look to be steady to last year. Bad news: units look like they’ll be down. No shock. What we’re not seeing so far is a deluge of last-gasp, 50% off, get it now-or-never offers. There are lots of free shipping pricing experiments, but no game-changers.