Creating a Big Bang
Nov 1, 2007 12:00 PM, By Mike Janssen
Fake snow is falling, harried shoppers are gobbling granola bars on the go and Santa and Mrs. Claus are already alight at malls, creating a blizzard of seasonal hoopla.
And, no, you're not crazy, it all started earlier than ever this year.
In light of a flurry of below-average sales forecasts for the holiday shopping season, mall marketing teams are doing everything they can to pack their properties with consumers early.
The first indication that this wouldn't be a normal year came, unsurprisingly, from Wal-Mart, which began cutting prices before the season began in earnest. On Sept. 30, the world's largest retailer — and largest seller of toys — in the U.S. announced plans to cut toy prices for the holiday season as it kicked off an aggressive campaign to boost sales.
Elsewhere, retailers like the Home Depot and Lowe's, among others, were double-loading seasonal aisles after the back-to-school season finished not just with Halloween-themed gear, but also with the first wave of Christmas trees, ornaments, lights and all other manner of tchotchkes. Indeed, weeks before Halloween, it seemed the holiday shopping season was already in full swing.
More people seem to be taking note this year, which has only been more disconcerting as unseasonably warm temperatures gripped the country for much of October. You can hardly turn on the television or read a newspaper and not see someone commenting on the early advent of the holiday season.
Indeed, the holiday shopping season that once spanned a tight 40 days from the day after Thanksgiving (traditionally known as Black Friday) through New Year's — factoring in post-Christmas sales and returns — has become more than twice as long.
In recent years the season's back end has grown, with the exploding popularity of gift cards creating a post-holiday sales rush that extends until Martin Luther King Jr. Day, nearly three weeks into January. And this year, it's grown at the other end. A National Retail Federation (NRF) survey of 7,837 consumers found that 40.3 percent of shoppers planned to start holiday shopping before Halloween. That means the holiday season, which accounts for between one-fourth and one-third of all retail sales, now will eat 25 percent of the calendar.
There is some consternation among mall marketing managers and other retailers as to how to manage the ever-expanding holiday shopping season. “It's walking a fine line between balancing the needs of your customers and alienating customers who don't want to see the holiday season begin too early,” says Scott Krugman, an NRF spokesman. “Overall, retailers have done a pretty good job of that over the last few years.”
Marketers are also wary of losing out on Halloween sales if they push consumers into the Christmas season too early. By ignoring that opportunity, “we would miss a significant opportunity for a large majority of our stores,” says Dawn Lecklikner, vice president of property management for specialty centers with Beachwood, Ohio-based Developers Diversified Realty Corp.
Regardless of when marketing managers begin the holiday push in earnest, one thing remains clear: with soft projections, malls' tactics for getting shoppers into their properties matter more now than they have in years. And some companies are pulling out all the stops.
Turn the lights on
At the “bigger is better” end of the spectrum, Forest City Enterprises Inc. is ratcheting up a large-scale light show that debuted last year at its lifestyle center in Denver, the Shops at Northfield Stapleton. The sprawling spectacle returns this year, and Forest City is rolling out a similar display at Chicago's Promenade Bolingbrook, which opened in April.
“Symphony in Lights,” according to Forest City, is the first and largest commercial holiday light show of its kind. At each property, 250,000 LEDs illuminating trees, snowflakes, wreaths and other holiday designs flash on and off in sync to the music of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, an ensemble known for its electrified, over-the-top renditions of holiday tunes.
“Symphony in Lights” stretches over a quarter-mile of building facades in Denver. In Chicago, it centers on a 50-foot tree surrounded by 40 giant snowflakes.
“Each setting is different,” says Jane Lisy, Forest City's vice president of marketing. “You'll have the same sound, but a totally different look at the two places.”
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