Sitting in my home waiting for trick-or-treaters to start arriving in a few hours, it is interesting to consider the upcoming holiday retail season. Retailers of all types -- from big box discounters to small specialty stores, brick-and-mortars to clicks-only -- are struggling to figure out how to handle another slow holiday season. ............................................. ................................................
Typical move
Many have already started offering and promoting products for purchase for the holidays -- either as gifts or decorations -- in the hope to capture the expected limited consumer spending this season.
While this might have a bit of success for some, this strategy has to overcome a major hurdle taught to consumers by retailers themselves.
Retailers have taught consumers that if they wait, retailers will flinch first when holiday sales are slow and then the discounts will come. Consumers are not dumb. They've learned that they will be rewarded with lower prices if they postpone the start of their holiday shopping. ...................................................................... .........................
What retailers are trying
It seems that more retailers are trying to move away from extreme holiday discounting by limiting inventory -- hoping consumers will buy at closer-to-full price if they are concerned that the products they want are in short supply.
Price-conscious shoppers or retailers... who will win?
My money is on consumers. Several major retailers have already started holiday discounting including Sears, Borders, and Kohl's. About a week ago, Walmart announced a holiday season discount pricing format where sales would rotate for different products throughout the holiday shopping season.
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