Every year brings new Christmas retailing trends and there
is much discussion this year as the retail world goes through significant
change.
Star Wars Awakens
Customer Spending
The Force Awakens
is not just a blockbuster movie, but a retail phenomena in its own right with
massive sales of accessories and memorabilia. The big boys like Target and Toys’R’Us
are certainly cashing and we wonder how many of our market traders have access
to Star Wars merchandise.
Click-and-collect
Not So Simple
There have been
reports that the transition from old fashioned bricks’n’mortar retailing to new
technology has struck snags when it comes to buying online but collecting in
store.
According to the Washington
Post as much as 60% of click-and-collect sales suffered problems on Black
Friday and those problems have also turned up in Australia. Dick Smiths
recently had to handle criticism about their click-and-collect
strategy.
Apparently
criticism includes goods not being ready by the nominated time or not turning
up at all. Retailers like K-Mart say they are constantly attempting to improve
the digital and in-store experience.
Re-inventing
retailing has its issues.
Costco’s Loyalty
Program Beats Competition
Costco charge an
annual fee to shop in their stores and intuitively that may seem a barrier but
the queues in their car parks and at membership counters this Christmas would
suggest otherwise. Apparently the fee is part of establishing a loyalty relationship
that is certainly working for Costco.
Boxing Day Bonanza
Boxing Day is probably
the ultimate bricks’n’mortar shopping day in Australia with thousands of
shoppers choosing to visit a physical store. Customers were queuing outside David
Jones and Myer from 5am in almost a counter move to the new threat of online
shopping.
Preliminary
estimates put pre-Christmas and Boxing Day sales up by as much as 4% over last
year.
Sydney Car Park Jam
Sydney's Castle Hill Shopping Centre received unfavourable publicity with some Christmas shoppers enduring 3 hour waits to get OUT of the car park last Wednesday. Nearby roadworks are thought to have added to the problem.