After the holidays, retailers hope to keep the party going

Retailers pushed harder and earlier this year to get people to buy — and keep buying all season long. But with the holiday shopping season at a close, what’s a retailer to do when the party’s over? Well, they try to keep that party going just a little longer.

This is the week when lots of people gather their gift receipts and get to work. Michael Brown, who leads Kearney’s retail practice, is one of them.

“I spent this morning trying to exchange something that I got for Christmas that wasn’t the right size,” he said. It’s a shirt from an activewear brand.

And unless you wanted to exchange the shirt for an uncommon size or unpopular color, “you could not get anything,” he said.

While that’s not great for him, it is good for the retailer because it means the company managed its inventory and discounts just right. Meanwhile, Brown said, stores that have too much stuff left over are having post-holiday, end-of-year sales. 

“Most retailers are going to start their fiscal 2024 on Feb. 1,” he said. “So it’s time now to optimize as much as you can from the left-over inventory to end the fall season to begin the spring season.”

The promotions might get pushy: Get yourself something with that gift card. Get yourself the thing you wanted that no one got you. Get yourself something new for that New Year’s resolution.

This is par for the course every year, observed Kerri Camp, who directs the Center for Retail Enterprises at the University of Texas at Tyler. But because Black Friday sales started as early as October, a January sales push might turn shoppers off.

“I think consumers do get tired. The number of promotions that we receive — just check anybody’s inbox and their email or their text messages even,” she said.

But retailers need to be cautious about their messaging, Camp said. And they should avoid early optimism about how well they did this holiday season, even though sales were solid, because people bought differently. For one thing, buy now, pay later spending hit an all-time high on Cyber Monday. 

“So, there is some concern that when credit card bills come in after the new year,” Camp said, consumers may have underestimated their spending.

For retailers, that could mean an even slower than usual start to 2024.