South Jersey Business Trends

By ROBERT LINNEHAN | South Jersey Business Trends
Local retailers are cautiously optimistic leading into the holiday shopping season, as south Jersey business owners are predicting their holiday sales to surpass those of last year.
Retail expert Dr. Carol Kaufman-Scarborough, a professor of marketing and associate dean of undergraduate programs at the Rutgers University School of Business in Camden, said retailers could expect a more confident – and educated – consumer this holiday shopping season.
This season certainly has the potential, she said, to be bigger than the last.
“Consumers are beginning to feel a little more confident in terms of their spending. They’ve gone through several months to readjust their spending habits and now feel a bit more secure in what they can spend,” she said. “They know what they can do and that provides them with more confidence.”
Consumers this season will be looking for the bargain deal and have started their shopping earlier than most years. According to the International Council of Shopping Centers, more than two-thirds of consumers have already started their holiday season shopping in some facet.
Consumers aren’t waiting until the last minute, she said, because they hope to take advantage of early shopping season deals retailers are offering.
“Consumers know that waiting until the last minute might not be the savviest strategy to stretch your dollars,” Kaufman-Scarborough said. “Customers are looking for ways to save this season. Retailers need to make sure they’re aggressive about promoting the way you provide your customers with savings. “
Local retailers at the Cherry Hill Mall are expecting an increase over their sales from last season, said Bob Wahlquist, senior regional manager of the mall.
Last year at the start of the shopping season, Wahlquist said the economy was in a freefall. The banking system was in disarray and people were watching their finances closer than ever before, he said. This year, it seems as if shoppers are ready to start spending money again as the economy seems to be improving.
“Las year it was a wild roller coaster ride downhill, but now most people believed we’ve bottomed out and we’re coming up off the bottom. If you look at Wall Street and the stock markets, it’s a dramatic improvement from a year ago,” he said. “Now the biggest issue is consumer confidence. If the typical person believes things are better than a year ago, the economy will recover and retail sales will improve over last year.”
One factor in their favor that retailers should look to, Wahlquist said, is that even during the worst times of the economy last year, shoppers still came to the mall. The mall didn’t see much of a dip in attendance, he said, even if the people who frequented the mall weren’t spending as much as they did in the past.
Finding ways to coax those shoppers into spending money on a gift this season will be the challenge for business owners at the mall, Wahlquist said.
Lori Anzivino, Marketing Director for the Voorhees Town Center and the Moorestown Mall, said that while some national media outlets are predicting that retail sales actually decline from last year, retailers in both malls are confident their sales figures will rise this season.
“The National Retail Federation projects holiday retail industry sales to decline one percent this year, however, the Voorhees Town Center and the Moorestown Mall are optimistic and believes spending may increase slightly due to our customers taking advantage of holiday promotions, coupons and sales being offered this holiday season by our key retailers,” she said.
Retail Coordinator of Haddonfield Lisa Hurd said the vast amount of retailers in town are expecting their sales to rise from last year’s numbers.
The general attitude over the upcoming season is one of optimism, Hurd said, which is why the Partnership for Haddonfield is investing the most amount of money into marketing it ever has for this season. A number of special offers and more advertising are prepping the business district for the busy holiday season.
“Our retailers are anticipating that their business will be stronger than last holiday season. Generally, there is a more upbeat sentiment going into this shopping season. Economic conditions have improved somewhat, hopefully that will translate people spending a bit more this year,” Hurd said. “The national press is saying that holiday shopping may be the same, but overall spending may be up because people want to spend more money on themselves.”
Medford Business Association member David Vaughn – owner of Kettle of Nuts – said he’s waiting to see how the economy will affect his store’s seasonal sales.
He’s not as optimistic as many other people in the retail sector, he said, as many shoppers are still worried about the shaky economy and will likely be budgeting themselves more and more this season.
“It’s going to be a longer, sluggish recovery then other times in history. Customers, from what I’ve see, are pre-shopping already for the holiday season,” he said. “It’s more about what kind of a deal they can get then what kind of gift.  It could be a sluggish turnaround. The timing is right with the market having some improvement and the holiday season upon us, and if the public sentiment turns around we could see a better holiday season than expected.”

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