Global Retail Executive Council

Pricing wars commence early in 2009

While retailers lowering prices to woo shoppers in this tough economic environment isn't exactly surprising or newsworthy, there appears to be a trend emerging that may impact some of our long-held retail traditions around the holiday season.

First came Target's return volley against Wal-Mart's "100 for $10" campaign, slashing prices on toys at the beginning of October in an effort to redefine the playing field for the traditional sale wars of the holiday season.

Then came Toys R Us announcing a pop-up retail strategy for holiday 2010. Pop-up means automatic price wars, as there will be no "after Christmas sale" on toys at these locations; they go back into regular store inventory at an additional handling cost, so pricing and discounting will be even more aggressive as the season progresses.

And today comes a Kokatu article on the availability of Xbox 360s at Walmart this week for $199... including a $100 Walmart gift card, effectively dropping the price to $99. While this is definitely news to videogamers, the article contained the following hidden gem:

More interesting, though, is what our sources tell us about the sale.

This weekend's one-day sale is just the first of weekly sales that will be hitting Walmart in the lead up to the post Thanksgiving retail sales explosion known as Black Friday.

We're told that this is Walmart's attempt at pulling a little of the focus off that huge shopping day and trying to spread the wealth over the entire month. So look out for future deals, perhaps including more gaming price cuts.

If Walmart really is trying to take the focus off of Black Friday, kudos to them. The idea of a single day of massive sales - along with the affiliated shopping madness, crowds, stockouts and disappointments - is really out of alignment with what shoppers want these days: consistent value, in-stock merchandise, and being able to get what they want for less money.

Walmart has consistently been embracing a theme that seems to resonate well with shoppers: you can have what you want, for less. And Target and Toys R Us are upping their game as well.

It's going to be an interesting holiday season, at least if you're a toy shopper...

30% decline in retail industry events in 2010? A sad sign of the times...

One of the things we maintain here at GREC is a comprehensive calendar listing industry events throughout the world, and we just posted the 2010 update. First, feel free to check it out on the GREC Web site, and if you have an event you'd like to have listed, email us the details and we'll get it in the calendar.

But this year, as we were updating the calendar, it was quickly apparent that there had been a dramatic decline in the number of retail events. In 2009, we tracked 135 events, from huge conferences and trade shows to intimate summits. Though there were a couple new events we added, the 2010 calendar contains only about 100 events... a big drop.

Dozens of shows are simply showing 2009 information or have had their Web sites and domains disappear completely. Others are going to an every other year format, in hopes of a recovery in 2011. And a number have consolidated into one event bringing together five to eight expos under one roof at the same time.

So what does it mean? To be honest, having attended a number of events in 2009... the jury is still out. Many many events had attendance down across the board, and one of the other things we noticed were a large number of last minute cancellations - even at some VERY expensive conferences where dozens of no-show badges paid testament to newly imposed travel restrictions.

Here's hoping for a successful 2010 retail event season, kicking off with NRF in New York!