Seasonal is Sensational, But You Have to Work at It
By Faye Brookman, special to GMDC
According to GMDC’s Seasonal Best Practices study published last spring, seasonal has been sensational for many retailers, and current shopping trends suggest now is a time to cultivate seasonal sales even further.
But seasonal isn’t easy. A few years ago some retailers had some difficulties picking hot versus not so hot seasonal items and became cautious in selecting new items, in particularly in the cosmetics department.
This year, apparently retailers have a good handle on what shoppers want. The current holiday season is a perfect example. For the past three years, electronics have been at the top of shoppers’ wish lists. Smart general merchandise retailers seized upon that idea this year. ShopRite, for example, offered a 19-inch TV for $89.00 during the early holiday season. CVS had a DVD portable player for $19.95. Retailers promoting seasonal merchandise got the items out early and stacked them in highly visible locales. Retailers said these have tactics helped make the seasonal category productive.
What is also important to note is that Black Friday is playing less of a role in Christmas sales. Many consumers wait until later – often the Saturday before the holiday. That bodes well especially for food and drug stores that can nab those last minute purchases, especially with items such as fragrances. This year, for example, most mass retailers are privy to the hugely popular celebrity scents such as JLo and Britney Spears.
The National Retail Federation predicts holiday shopping this year will total $457.4 million, a five percent increase over last year. But seasonal isn’t only about the Christmas holiday. According to GMDC’s Seasonal Merchandising study, many other seasons are emerging as having big impacts on retail sales. The study listed over 50 other holidays/events that are important and seasonal in nature.
Discussion Questions: What makes seasonal merchandising
tick? Is it important to be bold, take risks and lead consumers into new areas?
Is it important to develop a year-around seasonal program, not only to take
advantage of expanded selling opportunities, but also to reduce dependency on
Christmas selling? How can stores leverage shopping frequency/convenience strategies
to grab last minute seasonal purchases?
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5 Comments on "Seasonal is Sensational, But You Have to Work at It"
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There are 2 types of seasonal merchandise. The examples used in the summary (TVs and CD players) aren’t “seasonally implicit.” They can be sold all year round, if the price is right. A plastic Christmas tree and Easter bunny candy are “seasonally implicit.” They have no value when the holiday ends. The markdown liability is for the “seasonally implicit.”
Many retailers have swing spaces for seasonal items. The same space is used for Christmas, Valentine’s Day, Easter, Memorial Day (summer picnic and bar-b-que), etc. Regardless of whether the item is seasonally implicit or not, it’s more constructive if it’s related to the store’s core assortment. A conventional supermarket selling TVs isn’t reinforcing its market positioning. Anything food-related would be a stronger statement.
Seasonal selling goes on all year. It’s just a lot stronger around Christmas. Sounds like the question is, how do we get shoppers to back off of Christmas and spread out the spending all year long? Kind of the way states have spread out the distribution of Food Stamps so grocers are so packed at the first of the month. Well, we can control Food Stamp distribution. But Christmas is always going to be on December 25th and I doubt we will get that changed anytime soon. I think we are just going to have to deal with it like we have for the past 2000 years.