Pedestrians look through the holiday window at a New York store on Thursday, December 2, 2021.
Christopher Ochicon | Bloomberg | Getty Images
The summer holiday season is just getting started, but retailers are already gearing up for the holidays.
In the coming weeks, companies will get early clues about what the all-important holiday shopping season will be like heroine hosts its own prime day on 12 and 13 July and rival retailers target Keep competitive sales. This will be followed by a period of busy back-to-school shopping, which is another indicator of how the holidays may go.
Rob Garff, vice president and general manager of retail for Salesforce, a software company, said that trends starting next month reveal how much people may be willing to spend during the holidays, as well as what types of products they choose to buy. want. Which also tracks shopping trends for retailers.
Complicated sales forecasts for this year’s holiday season are driving up prices for gas, groceries and other household necessities, ignoring how much people can spend on gifts.
To gauge how those factors will affect buying behavior, Salesforce made predictions for the upcoming holiday season based on two of its reports. Its quarterly shopping index analyzes the online activity of more than 1 million people in dozens of countries, focusing on 12 major markets, including the US. Its other report is the Consumer Sentiment Index, based on a May survey of more than 3,000 people in nine countries.
According to a report released Tuesday, here are three of Salesforce’s predictions:
Shoppers at the King of Prussia Mall on Saturday, December 4, 2021 in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania.
Hannah Baer | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Christmas in July?
Expect an under-the-bed stash of holiday gifts starting already.
in the last two years, Concerns about shipping delays and empty shelves are causing people to start shopping ahead of Black Friday. According to Salesforce, this year people will want to stock up on discounts and beat price hikes.
Forty-two percent more shoppers worldwide and 37% more in the US said they plan to start buying gifts to get better deals — the biggest inflation-related behavioral change that Salesforce saw in its research.
For some, this could mean that Christmas shopping begins in July as people jump on deals during Amazon Prime Day and competitive sales. Others may try to load gifts as retailers including Target and gap To unload discount items unwanted list They stocked up during the pandemic.
Christmas week shoppers walk past signs offering a sale at the Montebello Shopping Mall on December 22, 2016 in Montebello, California.
Frederick J. Brown | AFP | Getty Images
price trumps all
Coupe-up shoppers split off from their couches during the last two holiday seasons. Now they’ll be taking a hard look at the price tags – and going elsewhere if they don’t like what they see.
Garf said the value in this holiday purchase is expected to drive loyalty and convenience.
According to Salesforce, half of shoppers are expected to change brands to save money. This means that 2.5 billion shoppers worldwide can decide for a product that better fits their budget.
To avoid competing on low prices alone, Garf said retailers should generate buzz by offering items in special or limited quantities, or sport modern features such as product consistency.
Otherwise, he said, retailers’ profits could drop drastically if they discount too quickly and too often. Already, he said his profits are being squeezed by the high cost of fuel, labor and other commodities.
An NFT ad during the CoinDesk 2022 consensus event on Thursday, June 9, 2022 in Austin, Texas, US. The festival showcases all aspects of the Blockchain, Crypto, NFT, and Web3 ecosystems and their wide-ranging impact on commerce. , culture and community.
Jordan Vonderhaar | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Dear Santa, I want an NFT
One of the hot gift items of this holiday season won’t go in stockings or under the Christmas tree.
non-fungible tokenAccording to Salesforce, or unique digital assets that are stored using blockchain technology, more people will be on the list this year. Forty-six percent of shoppers told Salesforce that they would consider gifting a virtual version of a physical item or digital collectible.
According to Salesforce, roughly half a million NFTs are expected to be purchased from retailers between November and December, with a total market cap of $54 million.
Garf compared NFTs to the popularity of savings bonds in the 1980s, with people giving bonds with the intention that they would increase in value over the years. He said think of NFT as a high-tech spin on it.