Value has moved firmly from accessory to necessity. Retailers with a convincing value proposition – be it price, quality or payment terms – will fare best during the year-end holidays.
I’ve just returned from two retail-focused conferences (the Shop.org Annual Summit and another NYC apparel-focused show). The overriding theme at both was that value will be the predominant message of the holiday. Those who promote value and whose message resonates with customers will win, and those who don’t will miss out.
Today we’re on the cusp of the holiday, but back in July, Kmart was already promoting their Christmas tree section. At the time, I read a few articles criticizing the retailer for pushing the season, but I don’t think that was Kmart’s sole mission. Rather, the offer in Kmart’s aisle was layaway, an old fashioned practice whose time is once again appropriate.
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.