Retailers are trying to convince clients to start their holiday shopping session earlier than usual this year by creating a new sales holiday on October 10. More than two dozen major retailers have joined forces in order to establish this new sales event, according to Deborah Weinswig, the retail consultant who came up with the idea. This attempt was inspired by China’s Singles’ Day, known as the world’s biggest shopping event. The purpose of this new celebratory day is to enable consumers to begin their holiday shopping earlier, thus increasing both the shipping capacity and the number of available goods.
As the COVID-19 crisis continues to disrupt supply chains and consumer spending, retailers everywhere are experiencing not just a prolonged crisis, but also the real threat of losing profits during the most important sales time of the year. The new sales event is scheduled for October 10 in the U.S. in order to mimic 11.11, China’s Singles’ Day.
Shopping Events: A Brief History
Imagining a new shopping event is in no way a new idea. Black Friday goes back more than 70 years, although it hasn’t always been the most anticipated occasion for affordable shopping. The term was actually coined by the Philadelphia Police Department to describe the huge crowds of shoppers that arrived in the city for the days after Thanksgiving. While the initial negative connotation might have frightened retailers at the time, they were soon able to rebrand the term in order to better fit their marketing needs.
Now probably the most well-known shopping event in the entire world, Black Friday was practically reinvented by retailers in the 1980s. Their explanation of the term “black” being somehow connected with profits from discounted sales after Thanksgiving gave the event the positive lure it needed to become what it is today.
The Economics of Christmas
The winter holidays are normally the best time of the year for retailers in the U.S. and around the world. Even though sales usually increase dramatically as more and more people buy presents, decorations, and foodstuffs to celebrate, the COVID-19 pandemic is expected to continue to disrupt sales in the closing months of 2020. U.S. retail sales rose steadily between May and July, but the pace is already decreasing as the worldwide crisis continues to unfold. With the U.S. holiday shopping season being poised to start as early as the end of October, it comes as no surprise that retailers decided to bring the starting date forward as much as possible.
Retailers remain silent about their participation in the new event, but careful planning and maintaining the element of surprise is bound to be part of their strategy. Given the constraints imposed by the pandemic on shipping and product selection, not to mention the downward trend in sales, the new shopping event may prove to be the key to saving Christmas sales, as well as retailers’ profits.
The Best Time to Shop
With October 10, Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Christmas just around the corner, shoppers may ask themselves what is the best time to shop, after all. According to a Deloitte retail survey, 70% of consumers previously said last year they were planning to shop in early December. Deloitte also noted that all generation cohorts seem to rank Cyber Monday 2019 as being more relevant than Black Friday 2019 when it comes to fulfilling their needs for the right deal.
Even more importantly, perhaps, is the fact that the survey shows that buyers who start their shopping season earlier than most also plan to spend more overall. Those who reported shopping before Thanksgiving in 2019 estimated their total holiday shopping budget at US$ 1,660, while those who started later estimated their budget to around US$ 1,240. With this information in mind, creating a new shopping event in October seems to be a good idea for boosting sales, especially during a pandemic.
Policymakers, financial analysts, and retailers are all closely monitoring how the COVID-19 pandemic will reshape the U.S. economy. While some economic scenarios seem more positive than others for the retail sector, one thing is certain: retailers should prepare for short- and long-term consequences. While some economists expect retail sales to continue to decline as the pandemic extends, others say bold moves on the market may lower the impact.
