{"id":32416,"date":"2012-11-03T05:34:41","date_gmt":"2012-11-03T05:34:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/?p=32416"},"modified":"2012-11-03T05:36:14","modified_gmt":"2012-11-03T05:36:14","slug":"holiday-season-looks-brighter-tougher","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/holiday-season-looks-brighter-tougher\/","title":{"rendered":"Holiday Season Looks Brighter \u2026 Tougher"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\" align=\"left\"><script type=\"text\/javascript\">\/\/ <![CDATA[\n                                                         google_ad_client = \"pub-7021221536180758\"; \/* 468x60, created 11\/11\/09 *\/ google_ad_slot = \"1949837292\"; google_ad_width = 468; google_ad_height = 60;\n\/\/ ]]><\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/show_ads.js\">\/\/ <![CDATA[\n\n\/\/ ]]><\/script><\/p>\n<div class=\"mceTemp mceIEcenter\"><\/div>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Time to Believe<\/strong><strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong><\/h2>\n<div id=\"attachment_32417\" style=\"width: 354px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-32417\" class=\"size-full wp-image-32417\" title=\"Untitled-1\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Untitled-1.jpg?resize=344%2C194\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Untitled-1.jpg?resize=344%2C194 344w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Untitled-1-300x169.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 344px) 100vw, 344px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-32417\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Image Source - \u201cMiracle on 34th Street,\u201d 20th Century Fox<\/p><\/div>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><strong><em>\u201c<\/em><\/strong><em>Make a buck, make a buck. Even in Brooklyn it&#8217;s the same &#8211; don&#8217;t care what Christmas stands for, just make a buck, make a buck.\u201d<\/em> <strong>\u2013 Alfred, Macy Janitor, <em>\u201cMiracle on 34<sup>th<\/sup> Street,\u201d<\/em> 20<sup>th<\/sup> Century Fox, 1947<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Predicting holiday spending is never easy; but that sure doesn\u2019t stop the analysts, researchers and retailers. They\u2019re all expecting big things of you and me this year.<\/p>\n<p>Retailers are already planning ahead:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">&#8211;\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Store owners have announced that they plan to hire more than 700,000 holiday workers\u2026Target \u2013 90,000, Macy\u2019s \u2013 80,000, Kohl\u2019s 52,000, Wal-Mart \u2013 50,000, Toys \u201cR\u201d Us \u2013 45,000, the list goes on.<strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">&#8211;\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Online retailers are tweaking, tuning their sites and checkout processes to keep your fingers busy, happy.<strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">&#8211;\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Everyone is working to make sure their mobile\/tablet apps, website and service personnel all work together smoothly, seamlessly.<strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s not that the global economy has improved so dramatically or that food and fuel are taking less of the family budget; but still \u2026 despite everything \u201cthey\u201d threw at you, you\u2019re still standing!<\/p>\n<p>Kris Kringle looked around and said, <em>\u201cOh, Christmas isn&#8217;t just a day, it&#8217;s a frame of mind.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s probably why retailers across the board expect holiday sales to hit or exceed four percent this year.<\/p>\n<p>That doesn\u2019t sound like much of a growth rate, but it\u2019s higher than the average of 3.5 percent for November\/ December for the past 10 years.<\/p>\n<p>Profits on those sales are going to be even tougher because consumers have gotten crafty.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_32418\" style=\"width: 314px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Untitled-2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-32418\" class=\" wp-image-32418\" title=\"Untitled-2\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Untitled-2.jpg?resize=304%2C173\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Untitled-2.jpg?resize=304%2C173 304w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Untitled-2-300x170.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 304px) 100vw, 304px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-32418\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Image Source - Shutterstock<\/p><\/div>\n<blockquote><p><strong>Indispensible Shopping Tools \u2013 <\/strong>Mobile devices \u2013 tablets and smartphones \u2013 have become as indispensible to consumer shopping today as wallets and credit cards. Most people prefer using their iPad or other tablet because things just look better on the screen. <strong><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><strong>Shopping Apps<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>They have smartphones and tablets and are very good at using them.<\/p>\n<p>Best Buy \u2013 back in the day \u2013 complained that they were showcasing products for Amazon.<\/p>\n<p>People took the hint and downloaded\/ practiced with every shopping app they could find.<\/p>\n<p>So now, it\u2019s tough to go into a store and not see people using their smartphone and iPad<\/p>\n<p>Rather than grousing about people using their mobile devices as Best Buy did back when they blamed sales\/profit declines on being nothing but a showroom for Amazon, sma<\/p>\n<p>rt retailers are figuring out how to enhance the in-store shopping experience and keep the sale.<\/p>\n<p>A lot of them have developed their own apps to create appointments, pinpoint products and even access product reviews.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u00a0<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter  wp-image-32419\" title=\"Untitled-3\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Untitled-3.jpg?resize=564%2C343\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Untitled-3.jpg?resize=564%2C343 627w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Untitled-3-300x182.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 564px) 100vw, 564px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><strong>Comparison Shopping \u2013 <\/strong>Looking for a store, a product\/service, product\/service reviews, you name it \u2026there\u2019s an app for that. More importantly, consumers know how to use the apps to get the best price, product, service\/support and overall value for their money. <strong><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The growth in tablet shopping is obviously due to the increasing number of consumers who are purchasing tablets of all sizes.<\/p>\n<p>Tablet shopping is growing because let\u2019s face it, the images look better on the device\u2019s screen and content just looks better. Only our kids are satisfied with the stuff on their small smartphone screen.<\/p>\n<p>Forrester Research said they wouldn\u2019t be surprised to see the tablet sales volume double this holiday season.<\/p>\n<p>Retailers\u2019 biggest fear is not that you\u2019re going to use your tablet when shopping, but that you just don\u2019t come in at all.<\/p>\n<p>Instead, you take your device, curl up on the couch and do all your shopping online.<\/p>\n<p>Multichannel shopping is increasingly popular where folks use various media to make single or a complete shopping cart of purchases.<\/p>\n<p>Again this year, more people will shop the web then buy at a store or buy online and pick up their purchase at the store or do all of their shopping with trusted etailers to take advantage of free shipping and other special offers.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Price Plus<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The one point everyone in the retail\/etail arena agrees with is that people increasingly shop for the best bargain\/quality\/service\/support.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_32420\" style=\"width: 319px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Untitled-4.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-32420\" class=\" wp-image-32420\" title=\"Untitled-4\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Untitled-4.jpg?resize=309%2C206\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Untitled-4.jpg?resize=309%2C206 309w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Untitled-4-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 309px) 100vw, 309px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-32420\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Source - csmonitor<\/p><\/div>\n<blockquote><p><strong>Every Day<\/strong>-While it may be wishful thinking for most people, there will always be those brave and daring folks who will camp out in front of their favorite store (families have divided up the chore) to ensure they get the best of whatever for the lowest possible opening gun price. But with the pressure to capture sales for the end of the year increasing, every day will be Black Friday for the budget-conscious consumer. <strong><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Except for the die-hard, stand-in-line all night for the fun of it consumer, people \u2013 retailers and customers \u2013 are beginning to see Black Friday as irrelevant.<\/p>\n<p>Consumers start looking earlier and buying later, and are moving online.<\/p>\n<p>This year, the stores have to work harder to catch folks earlier and try to snag those people who wait till the last minute expecting to get those huge bargain deals.<\/p>\n<p>Susan got the idea when she said, <em>\u201cYou mean it&#8217;s like, &#8216;If at first you don&#8217;t succeed, try, try again.&#8217;\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>According to Booz &amp; Co, retailers and etailers have spent all year tuning their processes, procedures and systems to get their unfair share of the 4+ percent increase. This includes:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">&#8211;\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Developing a seamless digital, physical experience using multichannel retailing so folks don\u2019t feel they need to check with the competition<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">&#8211;\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cBuy-it-now\u201d promotions to convert browsers into buyers<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">&#8211;\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Capture customer information as they browse and then ping them a day or two later on a promotion \u201ctoo good to pass up\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">&#8211;\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Use loyalty points to drive conversion \u2013 double points if you buy today, triple points if you place your order within 24 hours<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">&#8211;\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Redoing their return\/fraud policies eliminating the hurdles to returning goods<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">&#8211;\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Beefing up, checking, rechecking online and mobile platforms for absolute best-case volumes because people will click away in the blink of an eye if the website is slow or apps crash<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">&#8211;\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Ensuring that online, on phone, in store staff are familiar with everything that is on the website so they can help already stressed consumers find the item quickly<\/p>\n<p><strong>Regifting<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-32421\" title=\"Untitled-5\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Untitled-5.jpg?resize=235%2C140\" alt=\"\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/>Pass it On \u2013 <\/strong>Rewrapping and \u201crecycling\u201d gifts you\u2019ve received and never used is becoming increasingly acceptable by more and more people today. Just remember who gave you what last year.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Something that really surprised us about this was Booz &amp; Co\u2019s forecast that there is a \u201ctrend\u201d of people regifting \u2026 you know, giving something\u00a0 you got last year and graciously giving it to someone else this year.<\/p>\n<p>Thirty-one percent of the folks (up from 25 percent) are thinking seriously about digging in the back of their closets to figure out who would really like\/deserves that great, unused gift you couldn\u2019t bring yourself to throw away or donate.<\/p>\n<p>Our only hope is that you\u2019re looking at those bottles of Zin, Cab, Pino or Merlot \u2026 you know, something folks can really use between Christmas and New Year.<\/p>\n<p>But whether you regift something really neat, venture out to the stores or shop online at work (come on, you know you will) and at home; you\u2019ll be part of the billions of people around the globe who figure what the heck, they survived the economy, and that counts for something.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s true of you and every person working in today\u2019s customer-centric retail\/etail organization.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, as Dennis Jacobe, Gallup Poll\u2019s chief economist, did temper his optimism for the holidays by noting, <em>\u201cYou have to be confident to spend, but because you\u2019re confident doesn\u2019t necessarily mean you\u2019ll spend.\u201d<\/em><em><\/em><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_32422\" style=\"width: 304px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Untitled-6.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-32422\" class=\" wp-image-32422\" title=\"Untitled-6\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Untitled-6.jpg?resize=294%2C215\" alt=\"\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-32422\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Image Source - \u201cMiracle on 34th Street,\u201d 20th Century Fox<\/p><\/div>\n<p>After all \u2026 a year\u2019s gone by and you\u2019re still standing!<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"># # #<\/p>\n<h2>By G.A. \u201cAndy\u201d Marken<\/h2>\n<p><strong> President<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong> Marken Communications, Inc.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong> <\/strong><a href=\"mailto:Andy@markencom.com\">Andy@markencom.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><p>Please join us in our <a href=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/abt\/index.php\" target=\"_blank\">Forums<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Become a Fan on <a href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pages\/AlienBabelTech\/123268467142\" onclick=\"_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'outbound-article', 'http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pages\/AlienBabelTech\/123268467142', 'Facebook']);\" target=\"_blank\">Facebook<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Follow us on <a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/alienbabeltech\" onclick=\"_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'outbound-article', 'http:\/\/twitter.com\/alienbabeltech', 'Twitter']);\" target=\"_blank\">Twitter<\/a><\/p>\n<p>For the latest updates from ABT, please <a href=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/?feed=rss2\" target=\"_blank\">join our RSS News Feed<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Join our Distributed Computing teams<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Folding@Home &#8211; Team AlienBabelTech &#8211; 164304<\/li>\n<li>SETI@Home &#8211; Team AlienBabelTech &#8211; 138705<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.worldcommunitygrid.org\/reg\/viewRegister.do?teamID=3P39R3SRV1\" onclick=\"_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'outbound-article', 'http:\/\/www.worldcommunitygrid.org\/reg\/viewRegister.do?teamID=3P39R3SRV1', 'World Community Grid &#8211; Team AlienBabelTech']);\" target=\"_blank\">World Community Grid &#8211; Team AlienBabelTech<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Time to Believe\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cMake a buck, make a buck. Even in Brooklyn it&#8217;s the same &#8211; don&#8217;t care what Christmas stands for, just make a buck, make a buck.\u201d \u2013 Alfred, Macy Janitor, \u201cMiracle&#46;&#46;&#46;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":396,"featured_media":32422,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2533],"tags":[5879,5878,5880,5848],"class_list":["post-32416","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-abt-news","tag-comparison-shopping","tag-holiday-season","tag-regifting","tag-smartphone-shopping"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32416","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/396"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32416"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32416\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32422"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32416"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32416"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32416"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}