It was a Christmas present that probably most in the business didn’t quite expect: the holiday shopping season just concluded has turned out to be stronger and more robust than even the most optimistic forecasts. There were a number of factors coming into play that created the surprisingly good news, including rising consumer confidence, lower unemployment, real growth in wages and – perhaps a little troubling – consumer willingness to take on more debt to buy the things they wanted. All of it came together for a very merry time, so here are five takeaways that could impact the lighting and home furnishings business going into the new year.
- Shoppers Still Want to Shop
This is probably the single most important lesson to be learned from this shopping season. After all the prognostications about the new generation only wanting experiences and not being interested in buying stuff, the proof was at the cash register. Consumers still want all the traditional products that have defined the retailing industry for generations, be it apparel, home or otherwise. Reports of the demise of consumer goods turn out to be very premature…if not just outright wrong.
- Physical Stores Remain Very Relevant
We’ll have to see how the final numbers look at the end of the month but it appears that the strength of the shopping season was channel-neutral. All across conventional retailing – be it big box stores, national discounters, specialty independents or even department stores – the story was much the same. This seems to indicate that while there will be variations amongst individual players within any given format, no one channel is any immediate danger of imploding.
- The Home Resurgence Continues
While fashion apparel will end up showing mixed results when all is tallied up, home furnishing and home improvement sales, particularly consumer electronics, were healthy across the board, up as much as 5 to 7 percent depending on the individual product classification. This confirms the classic cycle of home decorating products piggybacking on home repair and remodeling sales in a historic timeline. The lag time may have been longer this time around but the pattern rang true again.
- Luxury is Where You Want to Be
While some people thought perhaps the bloom was finally off the better goods market, that seems to be just not true. Again, hard numbers are difficult to come by as of yet, but anecdotal reports from retail suggest the luxury end of things outperformed other price levels across the product spectrum. With better margins, bigger top lines and just a generally better business model, the strengths in better goods are good news for the industry.
- Online…Of Course
Saving the most obvious for last, e-commerce grew faster than any other channels of distribution and when the final numbers come out, they are going to be staggering in growth rate, share of market and overall dollars. For anyone who thought online was starting to level off and the increases would begin to taper off, the Christmas 2017 season proves beyond a doubt that the revolution in retailing is far from over.
Your Business Read: https://www.fastcompany.com/40491567/the-future-of-retail-in-the-age-of-amazon
"Amazon is Not Unbeatable"
Check out this excellent piece from Fast Company magazine, “The Future of Retail in the Age of Amazon.”
Find out what Amazon does – and does not do – well and why the idea that everybody needs to be terrified of Amazon is completely wrong:
Merchandising Expert
Paul Thompson
Ahead of his hotly anticipated Lightovation Merchandising Tours at 10am and 2pm on Thursday, Jan. 18, display guru Paul Thompson talks to the SOURCE about his top tips: https://dmc-source-winter.theblackdotadvertising.com/#p=142
Showroom of the Year: Call for Entries
In this quick video, learn about how your lighting store can be honored in the 2018 competition, with awards presented at the June edition of Lightovation: https://youtu.be/jAfeZRfQauA