This past week I attended Christmas '08: The Retail Forecast Conference in NYC, produced by Retail Marketing Society.   As you might imagine, the economic outlook was the primary focus this year.   While the conference proved sobering, its speakers revealed many optimistic prospects for the upcoming holiday season.  

James Glassman, Senior Economist and Managing Director of JP Morgan Chase & Co., spoke of the opportunities that can arise from this environment.  You can download his PowerPoint presentation from our resource center, but to summarize, he said that the current panicky mindset in retail isn't based on people actually not having money.  On the contrary, with the recent drop in oil prices, money is placed back into the economy for spending on other things.  It is simply fear driving our market right now, and opportunity is born in fear.   When fear dominates, it is crucial that people get engaged to clinch the market share. 

On that account, David Wolfe, the Creative Director of Doneger Creative Services, discussed the importance of knowing your customers and providing them both product and value.  He said that kids and young men, as they don't own stock or homes, continue to buy.  In addition, the accessory boom is not over.  Finally, having impulse items priced correctly in your product mix will be a definite asset.   http://www.giftandhomechannel.com/channel/vod/67/

Doug Fleener of Dynamic Experiences Group http://www.dougfleener.com/2008TWREPDF/TheWeeklyRetailExperience10.29.08.pdf, talks about how now is the right time to invest time, energy, and even more dollars in employee training.   A lot of companies will cut back in this area; a huge mistake for them and potentially a great opportunity for those that don't.   He said, the most important thing a specialty retailer must do right now is to maximize every customer opportunity.

To this point, he talks about how salespeople can create incremental sales and increase the average ticket.  http://www.giftandhomechannel.com/channel/vod/110/

As you can see, the Gift and Home Channel has videos and blogs that deal with all of these subjects.   Just as the conference I attended brought together retailers sharing advice on making the most of financial circumstances; you can share and learn from your GHC community, and in addition, use the channel to train your staff, which as Doug mentions in his article, is more important than ever right now.   We are all facing the same conditions and with our shared knowledge, we can make tremendous strides.

And on that note, the importance of shared knowledge, we too need knowledge here to ensure that we are the best partner that we can be to you, the retailer.  At the end of this week, we are sending out a short survey, that will help us determine new content that you would be interested in, how to attract more members, to benefit you, and what services we can provide in order to make your jobs easier and more successful.  The best part, just for filling out the survey, you will be entered to win a wonderful prize, a gift to you of a spa treatment.  Now wouldn’t that be a great way to unwind after the hectic holiday season!?