2. Be Prepared for a Last-Minute Shopper Surge
Despite many consumers starting their holiday shopping early and many retailers/ advertisers frontloading their ad spending, ShopperTrak predicts 8 of the busiest shopping days will occur after Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
A calendar oddity this year is four December Saturdays. The third Saturday and the Sunday before Christmas are #2 and #3 on ShopperTrak’s list, which means your clients must reserve some “advertising ammo” for post-Thanksgiving weekend.
An October 2018 survey found US retail digital advertisers will allocate approximately 88% of their ad dollars for September, October and early November, although 26.9% of consumers said they would do most of their shopping the week before Christmas.

3. Cash Registers Are Expected to Sing a Joyous Christmas Tune
Various sources have announced somewhat different total holiday sales projections, but most are quite rosy, with the National Retail Federation forecasting an increase of 4.3% to 4.8% for November and December, or $ billion to $ billion.
Deloitte’s forecast is even greater, or 5.0% to 5.6%, and totaling $1.1 trillion. AlixPartners’ is more conservative, at 3.1% to 4.1% while the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) is predicting a 4.5% increase, to $807 billion.
A September 2018 joint survey from OpenX and The Harris Poll found 26% of those responding said they would spend more during the 2018 holiday shopping season, 56% approximately the same and 18% spending less.

4. Two Very Different Holiday Shoppers
According to Bazaarvoice’s 2018 holiday survey of 2,500 US adults, 58% consider themselves “prepared shoppers” who create shopping lists, research deals and start making purchases 42 days, on average, before Christmas.
The other 42% think of themselves as “spontaneous shoppers,” with 34% who never create a shopping list in advance and 33% who look for gift inspiration during their shopping experiences.
Despite their differences in holiday shopping strategies, approximately 50% of “prepared shoppers” and “spontaneous shoppers” said they often buy on impulse while holiday shopping and 50% also said they were likely to buy a gift for themselves.

5. Confident Consumers Are Ready to Spend
Brands and retailers should be very pleased about the upbeat economy, because according to RetailMeNot’s 2018 Holiday Insights Report, 47% of consumers said they would increase their holiday spending because their incomes had increased.
Other reasons for spending more were being more excited about the holidays, 37%; will be shopping for more people, 35%; feel better about the economy, 33%; paid off debt this year, 26%; and having more money because of the tax cuts, 18%.
Those responding to the RetailMeNot survey said they plan to spend $60 more during Black Friday weekend 2018, compared to

6. Small Business Saturday Is Big Business
Sandwiched between Black Friday and Cyber Monday is Small Business Saturday, which was a significant 2017 event for local, independent businesses, as 108 million consumers shopped their stores or ate at their restaurants.
Not only did 70% of shoppers said they were aware of Small Business Saturday, but also 48% said they shopped at a locally owned independent store or restaurant for the first time and 73% did so with family members and friends.
According to the National Federation of Independent Businesses’ (NFIB) 2017 Small Business Saturday survey, 46% of consumers said small businesses provide better customer service and 64% enjoy supporting their local community.

7. Advertising Strategies
Because Millennials say they will spend more than other demographic categories, suggest your retail clients consider a promotion of a free Uber or Lyft or Spotify or Apple gift card with a qualifying purchase during the weekend before Christmas.
Suggest retailers designate one or more store associates as the “You Deserve a Gift, Too” specialist/consultant to maximize sales to the many shoppers who are expected to buy a gift for themselves. Create a special display and/or offer a discount with a qualifying purchase.
Work with your promotion department, your fellow AEs and many local, independent businesses to help them maximize foot traffic and sales during Small Business Saturday. Suggest retailers and restaurants cross- promote.

8. New Media Strategies
Another tactic to attract more of those high- spending Millennials is a digital catalog in a mobile-friendly layout and a series of social media posts of the products in the catalog, with suggested gift ideas/items for family members and friends.
As noted in the Additional Analysis section of the Profiler, retailers can easily attract holiday shoppers by simply sending those in the store’s loyalty program an or text message of their current points total.
Offer customers an after-Christmas coupon/discount when they share their positive shopping experience with at least 6 other people. Ask them to share their references’ and/or social media addresses and each of them also receives an after-Christmas coupon.