“Cheap is the new chic,” says Rebecca Flach, vice president of membership and communications for the Retail Council of New York State.
The day after Christmas may surpass Black Friday in popularity as gift cards, deep discounts for overstocked merchandise and Christmas cash bring shoppers out. One change: they are spending differently and with due diligence.
“People are definitely changing their shopping habits, and retailers who suffered a dismal season in 2008 carefully monitored spending habits all year in anticipation of the holiday season,” Flach said. “They didn”™t overbuy, they watched what sold and they brought in merchandise that was more affordable … the result was a better-than-expected season in 2009.”
According to the Retail Council, 74 percent of its 5,000 member stores rated 2009”™s shopping season better than or the same as sales during Christmas week of 2008. The Retail Council”™s Holiday Sales Watch, a periodic snapshot of sales activity in both small and large stores that was conducted Dec. 28 and 29, had 58 percent of its members reporting better than or the same as sales for the same time period in 2008.
“Clearly, the Internet has enabled consumers to be better informed and therefore, better prepared shoppers,” Flach said. “They can price-check items and find the stores that are selling what they are looking for. Armed with the best price they have found, most retailers are willing to match it.”
While Internet shopping has increased every year and was up between 5 to15 percent this year, Flach said it won”™t replace brick-and-mortar stores, particularly in some industries where “you won”™t find retailers selling over the Internet. Shoes are a great example of a retail purchase you don”™t often find people making online.”
Â
Last year was also a time for store closings or downsizings. “We saw many national retailers scale back or discontinue. The market was oversaturated and stores were in a ”˜survival of the fittest”™ mode,” Flach said.
Â
While December”™s three snowstorms in the readership area didn”™t help retailers, others in the state escaped the wintry weather, making the season an overall positive for New York”™s retail community. “For small-businesses owners, jewelry and children”™s specialty stores did the best. For the national retailers, electronics sold briskly, despite the recession,” Flach said. “Merchants who were smart enough to track shopping patterns throughout 2009 had the best results.”
Internet sales will continue to rise between 5 to15 percent a year, predicted Flach, “but it also helps brick-and-mortar stores. Someone can order over the Internet and be able to go to the retailer and pick it up. That gets them into the store, and often they will purchase more than just the item they ordered, particularly if it”™s last-minute shopping.
“We”™ll keep our fingers crossed and expect a rather bumpy ride in 2010, but we”™re hoping by Christmas 2010, people will feel even better about shopping. Barring any major crises, retailers feel like the economy will pick up steam and that 2011 will see sales volumes returning to normal. We believe we”™ll be moving into a period of growth, but it will never be the same as it was before the Wall Street crash. The buying public”™s psychology has changed, and they are being more frugal and realistic.”
For Bob Lasso, manager of Staples in Woodbury Centre in Central Valley, he”™s seen a change in shopping habits. “Overall, our stores have seen sales down about 10 percent, but Internet sales have risen almost 40 percent. The recession has created a different kind of shopper, but people are still shopping.”
Large retailers are also offering in-store service for merchandise, another way to get customers away from computer screens and into stores. Best Buy and Staples are among those who now offer in-store service for computers and other merchandise sold, as well as incentives to trade in old hardware.
