Promotional Strategy

This week saw Amazon.com host its second Prime Day sale of 2023. The two-day sale event, which is exclusively for Prime members, is viewed by many as the unofficial start to the holiday shopping season. How did this most recent sale event compare to its predecessor in July, as well as year-over-year? Numerator, the consumer…

As inflation persists, consumers are continuing to be cautious and experience stress. Financial reports from large retailers indicate a transition from discretionary spending to a focus on essential needs, an indicator of monetary strains among consumers. A New York Times article, “U.S. Consumers Are Showing Signs of Stress, Retailers Say,” notes that despite the resilience of…

In 2023, a prevailing theme that has ensnared retailers is the phenomenon of consumer behavior. Both sentiment and spending have been unstable, leading business leaders through a whirlwind of changing strategies based on predictions that never quite came to fruition. Economists collectively anticipated that an impending economic downturn would dissuade consumers from depleting their savings.…

Amazon.com did it again. Prime Day, which took place for 48 hours on July 11 and 12, generated record sales and a 6 percent year-over-year increase, wooing customers with steep discounts. With inflation hitting customers this year, a lot of retailers are looking to Prime Day to help guide their own discounting approach for the holiday…

Consumer shopping behavior is changing. Because of an uncertain economic environment and record-high prices, today’s consumers are changing where they shop, when they shop, and how they shop to save money. They're more reliant on existing tactics like loyalty programs and expanding the set of technological tools they use such as digital coupons, cashback rewards…

Today’s shopper behavior is changing faster than ever before. Typically, shopper behavior changes are slow and steady – like making course corrections on a big ship. However, with the highest inflation in 40 years, we are seeing material changes in shopping habits on a much shorter timeline. The Why Behind Price Increases The average shopping…

It’s a fact of life: When you’re selling online, the platforms that send traffic your way can make or break your business. Therefore, you should always keep an eye out for any changes that can impact user behavior. In recent months, two of the biggest platforms around — Google and Microsoft — have integrated coupons,…

Shortly after Bed Bath & Beyond filed for bankruptcy protection and informed customers it would stop accepting the store's iconic blue coupons as part of the wind down process, several competitors jumped in and began accepting them. The Container Store, for example, said last week that it will accept "a competitor's blue coupon" at any of its 97 U.S. stores now…

Today’s retailers are facing an urgent need to better understand customer behaviors. This holiday season, listening to what consumers want and need will be vital to predicting their purchasing decisions and ensuring your inventory is not under- or overstocked. However, many supply chain leaders are still relying on their instincts rather than the newest data.…

As in the past few years, the retail sector in 2023 will be heavily impacted by macroeconomic trends such as supply chain constraints and inflation. We remain in a challenging environment characterized by uncertainty. Consumer spending continues to increase, but will it plateau? Inflation appears to be slowing, but will this relief continue? And will…