Morning folks!!
This post was 12 years in the making. 1996 was my first
Christmas online in which I had an online business earning significant revenue.
From 1996 to 2006 Christmas Day was the single slowest day of the year. It wasn’t
even close. Earnings and traffic down as much as 75%. I would be lucky to earn
one SLOW days take on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day combined. Well 2007 is
much different. Christmas Day traffic was down by about 20% and earnings were
better than TEN other days in the month of December. This is simply
amazing and LONG overdue. It means surfers are surfing and retailers are
selling things. Did advertisers finally figure out that with every store closed
in the real world that people will shop online and many of the gifts are cash
or gift cards that are burning a hole in people's pockets? That online is
the ONLY game in town on Christmas Day no matter where in the world you are?
There is a LOT of
misinformation out there. For example, here is one nobody will agree with
because folks just listen and repeat and don't observe for themselves. TODAY is
the single busiest retail day of the year. The day after Christmas is the big
one. Don't listen to the baloney that it isn't. It is. The difference between
today and the day after Thanksgiving for example is today they are buyers. The
day after Thanksgiving they are shopping. Looking. Deciding. Today, it is ALL
about sales, returns, exchanges and spending those gift cards and cash. TODAY
is the busiest retail day of the year. Just go to a Target and look how many
extra registers are open today that were not open during the Christmas shopping
season. Nobody will agree because the experts tell you HOG WASH and people
repeat what they hear. There is no question in MY mind that TODAY, the day
after Christmas is the busiest day. NONE! Now let me give one caveat. While it
IS the BUSIEST day of the year, it may or may not be the day they ring up the
most sales. Because of returns and exchanges that number is likely to be
watered down. However I would venture to say that more total TRANSACTIONS are
conducted today and that is why you will see big retailers set up extra
registers and have a full staff. Going to the mall today? Going mid afternoon?
As you vehemently disagree with me give it a second chance when you start looking
for a parking space.
So the BIG news,
Christmas Day is no longer the slowest day of the year and someday may actually
being one of the busiest. Can you spell CAPTIVE AUDIENCE? I started my last
post with the following sentence that I am going to use to close this post
because I can’t wait to see it happen. AGAIN. “In the first few weeks of the
year we will hear how the experts are surprised about how strong online
spending was. The experts are really no experts at all or they would have
predicted what is coming not reacting to it.”
Have a GREAT day!
Rick Schwartz
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