SAGE Advice: A Black Christmas

By: Leo J. Shapiro, Erik Shapiro and Steve Yahn 'Twas a month before Christmas, and all through the stores, Black Friday spending was high -- as we predicted here more than two months ago.

Our November Leo J. Shapiro and Associates national poll found that buying plans for this holiday season are at their best November level in five years. One in four (25%) intend to spend more for the holidays, up two points from last month and four points above last November.

More than six in ten (63%) of those who expect to spend more this Christmas say that this is because they expect to buy more. This is up eight percentage points from last November and up one point since last month.

Although gas prices have fallen, gas is still no longer cheap. So 52% this November still say they are driving less to save money on gas, compared with 65% in November 2005.

How do people drive less and shop more? One way is by carefully shopping the local stores in local newspaper ads before even getting in the car.


Bottom Line

Before there were gift cards, gift lists, or gift wrapping, or three wise men bearing gold, frankincense, and myrrh, even before there was money or government, there was gifting -- the way every Cro-Magnon mother got from others what she needed and shared with others what she had.

Gifting stirs ancient and deep emotions. People buying gifts are tapping into a rich vein. Stores with newspaper advertising that mirrors this deep vein of human feelings will have a greater opportunity to tap into this year?s huge surge in gift buying.

Price cuts on most wanted gifts will be heavily used by retailers to grow traffic. Each retailer needs to find a way to bring in customers by promoting low-margin products, but also spawn incremental spending by enticing customers to explore the store for a greater variety of gifts.

Newspaper advertising reps should advise their retailer partners to create advertising which encourages both traffic generation and spending. Doing both takes more time and space than available in television advertising, which is why newspaper advertising -- which can bring stores into homes, where they can be conveniently browsed -- could have a real advantage this Christmas season.