SmallBusinessNewz

American Express Promotes Its 2nd Annual Small Business Saturday

As Thanksgiving approaches, so does the biggest shopping day of the year.  The madness of Black Friday brings crazy deals to retail outlets big and small, but it usually seems like the national stores get all the attention on that Friday.For the second year, the Saturday following Black Friday had been declared "Small Business Saturday."The day is sponsored by American Express, who launched the initiative in 2010 to help smaller retailers grab a piece of the biggest shopping weekend of the year.

Consumers Paying Less for Gifts This Year

The holiday season is coming soon, and consumers are going to start shopping even sooner. PriceGrabber survey indicates that 45% of consumer intend to spend less money during the shopping season for the 2011 winter holiday in comparison to last year’s holiday season. Another 49% claim they will spend the same amount money, while only 7% will spend more this year.

Consumers Plan To Spend More On Back-To-School Shopping

Consumers are planning to spend more this back-to-school shopping season than in recent years, according to a new survey by Deloitte.Nearly thirty percent (28%) of consumers said they plan to spend more this year on back-to-school shopping compared to last year, while just 17 percent indicate they plan to spend less.

Valentine's Shoppers Head Out Earlier

If you are a retailer, particularly if you sell certain merchandise, you are probably well aware that Valentine's Day is coming up soon. That means you might be selling a lot certain items, and it's a great time to market certain ones as well. Google has a couple of different posts up looking at Valentine's Day-related product search. The company has determined, based on data from its Insights for Search Tool, that Valentine's Day searches for 2010 are much hotter in eastern states in the U.S. than they are in rest of the nation.

Part 2: Holiday Trends for 2009

As evidenced in our previous article on the first 5 holiday trends for 2009, the economy is still greatly impacting both consumers and retailers. Unfortunately, the next 5 trends from Phil Rist of BIGresearch and Ellen Davis of the National Retail Federation send the same message.

Part 1: Holiday Trends for 2009

It's hard to believe that it's already time to start holiday shopping. According to the recent National Retail Federation's 2009 Holiday Consumer Intentions and Actions survey, it looks like the early bird may get the only worm. The survey, conducted by BIGresearch, found that consumers are aggressively looking for bargains this year. In addition, retailers are greatly cutting back on their inventory due to weak demand. In other words, it's going to be a push-and-pull battle between retailers and consumers.

Target Impulse Shoppers via Mobile

Even the recession can’t dampen the impulsiveness of some consumers. According to retail consulting firm Miller Zell , the vast majority still make unplanned purchases and over half of them are doing so while standing in the aisles.