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Britt Beemer America's Research Group articles most recent first Beemer Predicts Retail Train Wreck Consumers Postponing Major Purchases; Jewelry Hardest Hit Furniture Buying Index Falls in May Consumers Shift Spending To What They Need, Not What They Want Furniture Buying Index Drops Two More Points; Wal Mart Expands Home Furnishings In Midst of Sluggish Furniture Sales Beemer - Many Retailers In Free Fall After Disappointing December August Retail Sales Surge; Home Furnishings, Accessories Lag behind Expert Predicts Back-to-School Spending to Grow Meagerly in 2007 Retail Shopping Takes A Holiday Early Indications Are For A Frugal First Quarter Independent Retailers Outperformed Chain Stores In December Britt Beemer Lowers Forecast of Christmas Retail Sales to 2.7% Rise Over Last Year; Lack of “Must Have” Item to Blame Want To Drive Shoppers Away? Decorate Stores Less and Don’t Say “Merry Christmas” 2006 Q4 Shoppers Study Revealing; Cyber Monday a Hoax, Biggest Retail Push Will Be After December 15th 10 Trends For Retail Christmas 2006 Survey; Parents Cite High Gas Prices As Primary Reason For Limiting Back To School Spending Families Reduce Summer Spending As Gas Prices Rise Or Was It? New Survey Casts Doubt On Rosie Black Friday Survey; Bargain Hunters Drive June Results Top 10 Retail Stores For April; Discounts Drive Traffic Survey Says Americans Extremely Optimist About The Future 37% Of Shoppers Noticed Less Christmas Decorations In Stores; Spent Less As A Result America’s Research Group; Shopping Levels Increasing But Still Expected To Be Lackluster 3.2% Over 2003 Lack Of Hot New Product Weighing Heavily On Holiday Shopping Survey Of Thanksgiving Weekend Shoppers; "We're Not Impressed"; 45% Say Discounts Not Enough Britt Beemer’s Christmas 2004 Sales Forecast; 19% Will Spend More Since Bush Was Reelected Seven Things Your Store’s Appearance Tells Your Customers Britt Beemer Cites Convenience As Key To Drawing Male Shoppers Beemer Lowers Christmas Sales Projection to 4.2% Increase This Year Compared To His Earlier 4.8% Sales Increase survey 31.0% of Americans Who Planned to Shop Thanksgiving Weekend Did Not Get Around To It Study Shows 11% Increase In Consumer Spending For Appliance, Electronics, Computers Britt Beemer Predicts 4.8% Increase In Holiday Spending survey Furniture Leads All Categories For Shopping Levels Over Labor Day Weekend survey Consumers Plan to Spend 10% More on Back to School Furniture Buying Index Up One Point Buying furniture is on consumers’ minds, but not a top priority Shopping Is Not a Big Priority for Many Americans The Incredible Shrinking Customer Base How Loyal is Your Customer? The Loyalty American Consumers Have Towards Brand Products

Editorial
By Britt Beemer, America's Research Group

What more can retailers do to inflict visual pain upon their customers?

Over the last three Christmas shopping seasons more and more shoppers see less and less Christmas decorations in stores. Now, 37% of holiday shoppers noticed less Christmas decorations in their favorite stores and one third of those shoppers said it made them want to buy less! As I speak with store executives who oversee store display, they tell me their budgets are cut more year after year.

Even my 8-year-old daughter said to me, “This can’t be Macy’s dad, I just saw Macy’s in Miracle on 34th Street.” I said, “You know, you’re right, let’s leave!” When my 8-year-old daughter notices the lack of Christmas decorations, it’s time to say, “Hey, wake up before you lose her too.”

What has happened to retail being a theatre of the mind challenging customers to imagine what they could have? Have earnings become so pre-dominant that making the store look like a winter wonderland is no longer important? To whom is it not important? To the shareholders who will someday see lower earnings as disappointed shoppers don’t come back this year to shop?

It is one thing to take Merry Christmas out of the store greeting and make employees say Happy Holidays instead. But it’s another to reduce Christmas decorations to such a minimum that you would not know it was Christmas except for limited Christmas decorations on sale. We have taken Santa Claus out of the retail stores and made him pitch his tent in the center of the mall where he is more concerned about getting his picture taken (for a fee) with your children than to find out what they want to get for Christmas. Isn’t it amazing how many stores dropped their toy departments after Santa was sent to the mall rather than maintaining his North Pole area in the store.

Retail stores are making the biggest marketing mistakes of their corporate lives by yielding to the mall and letting the mall create the impressive Christmas displays. This coming year retailers may not feel the full wrath of shoppers over the lack of Christmas decorations, but in the last 3 years the number of shoppers who have noticed diminished store displays has risen from 8% to 17% to 37%. When that number reaches 51% you will find out what happens when a majority of America gets upset.

So when consumers can’t tell it’s Christmas, how much business will you do in your store? I can answer that question with this certainty. MUCH LESS.