"Careful" "Controlled" Holiday Spending to Come
Even though it is not yet Halloween financial analysts and retail experts are already working to predict holiday spending. With an unstable economy and uncertain times ahead most shoppers will be keeping tight budgets, and not making extravagant purchases. According to a recent Accenture survey "One quarter of shoppers (24 percent) plan to have a 'thrifty' holiday season and one in five (18 percent) admit that they will be 'focused on necessities', just 6 percent admit to planning 'extravagant' or 'unrestrained' holiday spending." In this type of market, where consumers are being conservative with their holiday budgets gift givers want to ensure that they give "targeted" gifts. These are gifts where the givers' dollar is stretched and the giver is sure the receiver is going to use and enjoy the gift. Gift cards are great examples of "targeted" gifts, they are meaningful, and guaranteed to be enjoyed. Allowing a friend or employee to enjoy dinner with their family, or to splurge on a new outfit is a win/win; a low risk purchase for the giver and a high reward for the receiver. With 43% of survey respondents claiming that they have less income than last year, and historic economic swings, it is going to be a year of low risk gift purchases. Remember the value of gift cards as you make your holiday purchases this year, whether it be for your friends, or employees.
For more information on the recent Accenture survey click here.
Mobile Payments, the Credit Card of the Future
Within 9 weeks of Starbucks launching mobile payment apps,customers chose to pay with their phones over 3 million times, according to an eMarketer interview with Starbucks VP of Digital Ventures Adam Brotman. The apps provide convenience and control for customers, and speeds up those dreaded lines at Starbucks on weekday mornings. Customer use of the app increases steadily as time goes on. But where are mobile payment systems going? The innovation has to keep evolving if it is going to maintain its popularity. Starbucks has already added an egift card component to the app, meaning that one Starbucks customer can gift another customer with the app through the mobile system. This is a computer free, cash free, and credit card free transaction that can happen anywhere. Imagine being able to receive gifts anytime anywhere, whether it is birthday gifts, or a reward from an employer. Mobile payments also help retailers track in-store activity based on mobile coupons. Brotman explains "In response to an ad campaign ran by adidas via Google’s AdMob where 10% discounts were offered Schultz said “they were able to track that in-store activity, they saw that the weekly redemption numbers were up 50 percent. You still have users who are willing to engage with commerce now. As consumers we don’t operate in silos and as marketers we should either. When we work with retailers, we try to figure out their strategies and how we can enable that – we look at consumer behavior.” Convenience for consumers, additional metrics and tracking for retailers. Get rid of your cash, and shred your credit cards, just make sure you have your smartphone.
For more information on mobile payments click here.
Is Your Loyalty Program Listening?
Loyalty programs are an important channel for GCP to sell our gift cards into, so we thought our loyalty companies (clients) as well as our retailer audience would find this article interesting and educational. It outlines an interesting argument for integrating a holistic approach to the business, which includes loyalty, resulting in a cohesive customer experience. As a consumer, I have received offers that exclude me because I am already a loyalty member…a classic show of “the disconnect that customers feel (that) is the result of the siloed approach to loyalty programs…” Read on @ Retail Customer Experience:
Beyond a loyalty program: Using loyalty data to create a unified strategy
Multi-Channel Retailers, Gift Cards, and Profit Margins
The number of consumers shopping across multiple channels is expanding while retailers everywhere face margin challenges and an uncertain economy. Consumers will seek information both on-line, and through mobile technology but will only shop in the most convenient channel. Multi-channel retail has become theexpectation (and a competitive advantage). This strategy allows the company to be everywhere the consumer is shopping, and lowers the risk the shopper will inquire at their outlet, and spend their money elsewhere. The difficult part of multi-channel retail is making the transition and keeping up with the consumer trends. How are multi-channel retailers reacting to this change in consumer shopping?
Potential Pitfalls of the Daily-Deal
Daily deal sites are increasingly popular with consumers across the country, however they are posing increasing problems with the retailers who offer these "too good to be true" deals. Be careful how your company interacts with daily deal sites so they attract more customers, and don't cost your business too much potential revenue. For example, if you give gift cards away at a discount is that too much free money? Here are some tips to success in the daily deal arena:
