It’s Time To Make The Doughnuts…
By Debbie Hauss, Editor-in-Chief

Do you remember how exhausted the Dunkin’ Donuts baker looked in those TV ads? Well, I’m hoping that retail executives are not feeling that way about getting ready for the holidays, although it is a process retailers must prepare for every year (sometimes with trepidation), as the summer heats up.

Even though most retailers and their solution provider partners acknowledge that summer is the time to get holiday strategies in order, inevitably as Labor Day rolls around, many have not finalized those plans.

This year presents a number of opportunities and challenges; but first let’s look at last year: The 2012 holiday season featured severe price-matching wars and earlier-than-ever store openings that increased the pressure on retailers. Although many store associates balked at the idea of working on Thanksgiving evening, shoppers still showed up.

The 2013 holiday season promises to be just as challenging, beginning with the calendar: Christmas Day is a Wednesday, leaving only three full weekends between Black Friday and Christmas Day. Retailers will have to scramble to keep up with the compressed timeline, while efficiently calculating the amount of inventory to have on-hand.

The omnichannel imperative also is putting pressure on retailers to ensure a consistent brand experience across all touch points, while providing brand access via web sites, email, mobile phones, mobile tablets and social channels, in addition to more traditional venues.

Here at Retail TouchPoints, we’re also gearing up to help retailers plan for the holidays. For the third year, we will publish the Holiday Outlook Guide (this year on Aug. 6). Last year’s Guide featured a number of industry experts who shared their insights around how to boost sales and conversions during the busiest time of year.

This year we also are hosting weeklong webinar series, called the Holiday Connected Consumer Series, which will feature industry analysts, retailers and other executives in 10 live events that will hone in on holiday-themed strategies around topics such as: Mobile Sites & Apps, Inventory, Personalization and Pricing. The series is slated for September 16-20.

With that, I want to wish retailers the best when it comes to preparing for and succeeding in the 2013 holiday season.

Follow Debbie on Twitter: @DHauss