Planning for the holiday sales season often tests merchants' retail inventory management skills and software. Anticipating the demand of customers and how quickly certain items will sell out before they need restocking requires delicate planning, an understanding of consumer spending habits and what products will be big this year. 

Due to the prevalence of mobile technology, 46 percent of consumers will be making fewer trips to retail locations during the holiday season, according to a recent PriceGrabber survey. Many patrons will enter brick-and-mortar stores confident in their ability to find the best bargain or to benefit from price-matching deals. The source discovered that 72 percent of smartphone owners use between one and four shopping apps, and this will create an overall more savvy customer base. 

Additionally, 23 percent of consumers will be buying items from their mobile phones, which will also reduce the number of trips shoppers take to nearby retail locations. While this habit may result in overall less foot traffic, merchants can still expect an uptick in total overall purchases, with a 2.4 percent spending increase anticipated by ShopperTrak. 

This entry was posted by Retail Pro on Friday, November 22nd, 2013 at 5:30 am .