I thought you might be interested in Tony Gao’s thoughts on the impact of negative news about the economy on holiday shopping patterns. Tony Gao is a marketing professor and retail expert from the College of Business Administration at Northeastern University:
"If the negative news generally reflects what’s been happening with the economic situations facing the American consumers, then it may influence holiday shopping in several different ways,” Prof Gao states:
1. What's behind the negative news, i.e., the actual worsening of the financial situations for some consumers related to the increasingly tight housing market hurts the buying power of these consumers.
"If the negative news generally reflects what’s been happening with the economic situations facing the American consumers, then it may influence holiday shopping in several different ways,” Prof Gao states:
1. What's behind the negative news, i.e., the actual worsening of the financial situations for some consumers related to the increasingly tight housing market hurts the buying power of these consumers.
2. The ensuring tightening of banks' credit lending rules has made it harder for all consumers to borrow money to finance their holiday purchases.
3. The rising oil prices, rising food prices, and declining dollars have jointly eroded our buying power, especially for non-necessity purchasing and buying of imported products.
4. The negative news and anticipation for a slow holiday business season actually propel retailers to offer more and larger sales as a way to lure consumers into the store (online or offline). The competition among retailers in offering sales will drive down the profit margin for the retailers but actually benefit the consumers.
5. The general consumer population has been alerted the down turn of the economy and this fact may help lead to a more prudent spending habit. This is where the media itself can influence the holiday purchase behaviors of shoppers.
Two related impacts on holiday shopping are in order:
6. A related series of negative news, that on the recalls of millions of imported toys due to health hazard concerns may also influence how gifts to children are bought and sent during this season. It may encourage more adult consumers to purchase gift cards in lieu of actual toys for their children relatives.
7. The declining dollar again the Euro and in the past year, again the Canadian dollar, helps attract more international shoppers or tourists to US shopping malls or tourist destinations."
Tony’s bio can be seen here: http://cba.neu.edu/faculty/directory_detail.cfm?e=240
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