The pucker factor for retail merchants has just gone off the scale! Normally the holiday sales blitz starts the day after Thanksgiving with door busting specials. But not this time around!
This year it’s started three weeks earlier and the merchants are indeed very nervous. Perhaps for good reason! Amid a deeping housing slump and higher food and energy costs, stores feel the need to pull in shoppers as early as possible.
From a marketing standpoint, what’s the demographic that has the most disposable income this time of the year? Seniors who are less affected by the ups and downs of the economy. There are 70 million of them over the age of 55 with 850 billion dollars in spending power. Thier disposable income this holiday season far exceed any other segment of the buying public.
A lot of merchants are certainly not in tune with this segment of the market. I was in a Florida department store recently and saw a “Friday Club Membership Card” that said it was for the exclusive use of people age 49 and under. I can’t help but wonder how that stores holiday shopping will pan out!
