What Will Retailers Find Under The Tree?

A common theme connects several strategies retailers are using to prepare for the holiday season: Enhanced capabilities to seamlessly cater to shoppers in stores, online, and on mobile devices. CBRE’s annual Holiday Retail Trends Guide outlines four trends shaping this season as it unfolds:

1. The optimistic shopper. In a strong economic environment, retailers who excel are those so proficient at selling across multiple channels that few transactions are strictly in-store or online anymore.

2. Buy-Online/Ship-to-Store (BOSS) allows shoppers to select from a wider inventory of merchandise stocked at the retailers’ warehouse to be delivered to their nearest store. Retailers bet that BOSS will cut delivery costs and generate add-on sales to shoppers who pick up orders at stores. Key to BOSS’ success will be the incentives retailers offer shoppers to use it.

3. Experience the rewards of loyalty. To retain shoppers and build stronger connections to their brands, retailers are enhancing loyalty programs with experiences and access to exclusive events like fashion shows.

4. Toys R all of us. The closure of Toys R Us stores cleared the way for opportunistic retailers to fill the void. Walmart and Target are expanding their toy sections, while others that aren’t widely known as toy sellers, including Michaels, Party City, and Ace Hardware, are jumping in with limited toy offerings. At stake is $1.3 billion in sales in the fast-growing toy category.