Why Retailers Should Retire Holiday Shopping Season

The retail industry has been disrupted in practically every way imaginable. It’s about time that retailers also rethink their approach to the holiday shopping season. It no longer makes sense to rely on disproportionate revenue from the holiday season to make up for softness in sales during the rest of the year. Customers don’t want retailers to dictate their shopping schedule. Wealthier shoppers have become used to buying the products they want when they want them, whether that’s shouting out an order to Alexa, discovering an item while browsing through Pinterest, or using their mobile phone to buy a bunch of stuff during their morning commute. More price-sensitive shoppers are also changing their habits. RetailNext says that December traffic and sales are moving into January, which suggests that some shoppers are learning to wait for post-season sales. More and more shoppers across the retail spectrum are only frustrated by deals restricted to a certain timeframe (such as on Black Friday) or buying mode (such as in-store specials only). Read more at Harvard Business Review.