EPISODE 3
In November’s Simon SumUp, Founder and CEO Joshua Simon talks baby boomers, Walmart, specialty retailers, and Black Friday.
FOUR TAKEAWAYS
1) Are we overlooking the value of baby boomers buying power?
The last several years have shown us that retailers are absolutely paying attention to millennials. But what about baby boomers?
Millennials may be the largest generation, but in comparison, boomers have five times the wealth and two times the income. That’s a lot of buying power. According to data from Moody’s Analytics, Americans aged 55 and older are accounting for roughly 42% of consumer spending.
The question is, how will they shop?
Nearly 84 percent of baby boomers prefer to shop in-store. So, retailers and landlords should start paying a little more attention to the boomer generation.
2) Should Amazon be worried about Walmart?
Walmart posted its strongest U.S. sales in nearly a decade. The retailer saw sales rise 2.7% in the third quarter, and maybe more notably, saw online revenue rise 50%.
With a huge brick-and-mortar infrastructure and billions of dollars invested in technology and innovation, perhaps Walmart has an advantage in this fight. They’ve rolled out grocery curbside pickup, equipped stores to handle online orders, built its own mobile payment app, and expanded its online assortment of products. Walmart’s website now has more than 70 million items.
So, Walmart is looking to give the e-commerce giant a run for its money.
3) Is there cheer for specialty retailers this holiday?
Despite some doom and gloom around specialty retailers, there’s still some cheer to be had this holiday season.
Retailers like Gap, Foot Locker, Abercrombie, and Ross all reported impressive quarterly earnings recently, with shares of some stocks jumping more than 20%.
Many have done so as they make efforts to reassess their business models, close unprofitable stores, and alter their marketing strategies. Others, like discount retailer Ross, are seeing jolly reports backed by the love of discount retail in today’s market.
So, maybe it’s time to add a few of these specialty retailer stocks to your holiday wish list.
4) So, was Black Friday boom or bust?
Bolstered by an improving economy, job creation, and improved wages, the National Retail Federation is predicting sales to increase between 3.6 and 4 percent this holiday season.
Yet, for brick-and-mortar foot traffic this past Black Friday, Shoppertrak estimated a decline of 1.6% year over year. And part of that may be because of the growing number of online shoppers and the growing number of days and weeks of exclusive deals.
Store like Kohls, JCPenny, and many others saw strong Black Friday and weekend sales, as they’ve started paying attention to how and when customers want to shop. Many have started launching deals on Nov 1st, online deals the Monday before Thanksgiving, and opening on Thanksgiving. And Kohl’s is now even testing out handling returns for Amazon.
All of this is a significant sign of the strength of an omnichannel approach in the retail world and the shift by retailers to meet the ever-changing consumer demands.
