While many retail brands broke sales records over the 2011 holiday season, some merchants found November and December promotions ended up hurting their bottom line. Merchants need to learn from the holiday season and take advantage of opportunities when they arise, but should not be overly aggressive.

Kimberely Ritter-Martinez, an economist with the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation, said 2012 will be full of said opportunities, although it will be a slow-moving strategic year. Debt will continue to saddle consumer spending, but optimism is increasing. Promotions are key to reaching these consumers, but they must be done in a savvy way.

"Barring a meltdown in Europe, the U.S. should do well in 2012 … It will be stronger than 2011," she told Apparel News. "2012 will be a year of fairly slow growth."

Planning is crucial. The retailers that succeeded over the 2011 holiday season were the ones that spread their discounts over the two-month period, whereas the ones that succumbed were those that launched their heaviest campaigns over the Black Friday weekend, Bloomberg recently reported.

This entry was posted by Retail Pro on Friday, January 13th, 2012 at 3:03 am .