According to the National Retail Federation survey report conducted by BIGresearch, nearly 20 percent of shoppers start holiday shopping before Halloween, another 40 percent in November and the remainder in December. Are you ready to get your piece of the pie? Although sales aren't expected to reach their all-time high in 2007, an almost 3% rise in sales is predicted over last year. Customer Intention surveys are notoriously optimistic and this one is no different. Whereas I do believe that 60% of respondents are looking for discounts, they still report they will be spending an average of between $400 and $700 on gifts - depending on which part of the report you are reading. There are also some break out numbers per industry that might attract your interest so I encourage you to see their entire report here:
http://www.nrf.com/modules.php?name=News&op=viewlive&sp_id=1225
Of course all the buying for the season should be done but if you need some little gems of optimism for your Christmas Party or, better yet, project those industry increases over your sales last year and, in January, review them for accuracy, you'll have a leg up on whether your business can benefit from trend reports. According to the NRF survey, Gift Cards are the number one desired gifts by adults. We've previously blogged about all the benefits of Gift Cards and how well Windward Software System Five integrates with them. If you don't have them, there's still time!
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