Heading into the peak period
It’s that time of year when the crystal balls come out for both the Christmas and holiday sales season. But predictions are like opinions, everyone’s got one. So we wanted to hear what retailers and CG companies were really feeling heading into the peak period. Amid inflation and rising living costs, our research highlights business responses. They are gearing up for traditionally the year’s busiest and most profitable months. With Black Friday coming up this week, let’s take a look…
While there was some global variation in optimism, overall businesses are anticipating a challenging peak season…
with 65% concerned about their financial performance and a third expecting lower margins.
Promotion events
Macro issues are expected to directly impact profitability with consumer spending. They top the list of respondents’ concerns, closely followed by disrupted supply chains and inventory challenges. To tackle these issues more than three quarters will be getting involved in promotion events like Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Over half say they’ll be bigger than in previous years.
However the majority of businesses think that sales pricing is more complex this year (79%). Despite the importance of peak season and the challenge of getting peak pricing right…
40% will be managing their pricing manually or don’t know exactly what their approach will be.
Business agility
It’s difficult to know exactly how the next few months will play out. Pricing promotions during peak can be a huge draw for customers, but to really make the most of them, businesses will need to be sure that they have the ability to execute their pricing strategy. They must be able to quickly pivot to respond to consumer demand, all the while protecting margins and profits.
Everyone’s hope is for the retail and consumer goods industries to get through this period in good shape. However, 2023 looks just as unpredictable. Pricing automation should be at the top of every business’s Christmas list to ease the pressure and deliver a prosperous new year.
All figures, unless otherwise stated, are from YouGov Plc and research was conducted between October 12 and 21, 2022.
