Stores improve their online offer for this year's holiday season

New study by Capgemini suggests retailers are "cautiously optimistic" about the holiday shopping season, despite uncertainty about store openings or holiday buying trends and patterns. Almost half (46 percent) of retailers expect sales to increase this season, and nearly as many buyers (49 percent) intend to make more purchases during the holiday season than in previous years. For this purpose, as much as 93 percent of stores have taken steps to strengthen their online offer, 50 percent of them improved the website and 34 percent increased network traffic throughput.
To further encourage customers in this unique season, 78 percent of retailers intend to offer greater discounts both online and in brick-and-mortar stores, with one in three planning more discounts on products in online stores. However, despite these preparations, the retail sector is less confident in the predictability of consumer buying patterns in this year's holiday season compared to last year (39 percent compared to 55 percent in 2019). The main reason behind this uncertainty is the threat of new restrictions or a lockdown (54 percent), and nearly one in three (30 percent) of the retail sector says the data on which they base their planning is inaccurate due to the global crisis caused by the pandemic. At the same time, only 14 percent of consumers expect to spend more than usual on Black Friday, with just over a third (35 percent) suggesting they plan to spend less. Reduced disposable income was identified as the main reason.
(WBJ)