As retailers prepare for the upcoming 2021 holiday season (< 100 days ‘til Christmas!), there are big questions as to what Holiday 2021 will look like. Will it look like the traditional retail season we saw in 2019? Will it look like the COVID-influenced season of 2020? Somewhere in-between? There is no shortage of prognosticators out there trying to predict the season, but I’m taking a slightly different approach. I’ll share some lessons learned from the past two seasons, and 5 things you should be considering regardless of the shape and size of the holiday season this year.
Note: I recently joined a panel discussion with our partners at MessageGears on the topic. Watch the recording for further dialogue and perspectives.
Lessons Learned:
Retail tactics have traditionally encouraged driving people to stores. Now they need to shift to managing traffic flow, encouraging online ordering, and self-service. It’s a foundational change to retail theory that will continue to play out over the next few years.