Holiday Retail Outlook Positive for Small Retailers

By Rieva Lesonsky

There’s some good news about holiday retail sales this year. A new survey by Manta, an online community for small businesses, of some 1,000 small retailers found that nearly half (49 percent) are more optimistic about holiday sales this year compared to 2010.

Manta theorizes that small retailers are feeling the results of increased movements to “shop local” that are having a positive impact. Social media is also helping small businesses sell, with 75 percent of those surveyed saying they’ll use social media tools to promote their holiday offerings this year.

When asked how holiday sales were faring so far compared to last year, 38 percent said sales were higher than last year. About the same number (36 percent) said sales were flat, while just 26 percent said that sales were down from this time last year.

In addition to the 49 percent who were more optimistic about their sales prospects for 2011 than for 2010, 30 percent said they felt the same degree of optimism as last year and just 21 percent felt more pessimistic than last year.

Small retailers are using a variety of marketing tactics to differentiate themselves from their larger big-box competitors, Manta found. And despite consumers’ current obsession with deals and discounts, that’s not where small retailers are focusing their efforts. Here’s what small businesses do to compete:

• Provide the best customer service: 75 percent
• Offer a better merchandise mix: 49 percent
• Special incentives/discounts: 36 percent
• Offer more flexible return policies 13 percent
• Run cross promotions with other local businesses: 10 percent

Unfortunately, retailers’ optimism about the upcoming holiday season isn’t translating into new hires. Just 10 percent are hiring part-time holiday workers, and a mere 2 percent will hire full-time holiday help. Half of respondents said they don’t need help, but almost as many (38 percent) said they couldn’t afford it. It sounds like although things are looking up for small retailers this season, they’re still not quite confident enough to spend on additional assistance.

View full survey results, including infographics, here.

Image by Flickr user Steven Depolo (Creative Commons)

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 2nd, 2011 at 6:00 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.


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