Those of us involved in the interactive business have known for years that retail was making a huge shift to online. But every time we mentioned it we came off selfserving and sounding like the typical “Chicken Little” news media.

Then came holiday shopping 2007.

Flat Expectations, Flat Results

The news was different depending where you looked. On one hand, traditional bricks and mortar stores had predicted a lackluster season — only 5% gains, and they were living up to that prediction. Even with an encouraging Black Friday, the media ignored the encouraging signs and pronounced 2007 holiday shopping as dead.

In the end, some stores exceeded forecasts and others faltered. Wal-Mart Stores, CostCo, Marshalls, T.J. Maxx and other posted higher than expected holiday sales. But 63% of the retailers reporting results in the first week in January showed lower than expected results — many posting only 2 to 2 1/2% overall increases.

Then There Was Online

$3.4 million a minute
$202.5 million an hour
$4.86 billion a day
$29.2 billion total (from Nov 1 – Dec 31)

Online holiday shopping this year saw a 19% increase over last year, sparked by a blockbuster Green Monday (the online equivalent of Black Friday) which posted the largest single day of online revenue ever, $881 million. And as encouraging as these number are (if you own an online store, at least) the real number is probably larger since this doesn’t include the thousands and thousands of small online stores.

The evidence of a shift to online buying is clear. Holiday shopping results just magnified the trend.

It doesn’t take much brainpower to see that shopping online is easier, faster and requires much less hassle, if you know what you want. But if you need assistance, good luck.

Based on the online stores we currently manage, we experienced an upsurge in buying that started in October. We assumed it was early buying for holiday giving. Interestingly, the early surge hasn’t fallen back to previous levels, even several weeks after Christmas. Promising.

So what does this really mean?

For one thing, it tells us that every Tom, Dick and Jane can build an eStore, peddle their wares and get in on the online shopping bonanza.

It’s like the old Texas radio spots — “haven’t got an oil well, well get one.”

Change your model. If you don’t have an online store to sell you products, consider one. If you have one, promote it better and more often.

Even the simpliest of online stores, offering items branded with the company logo, and latest ad slogan, if selling and making money. Often the audience is your own employees who would love to wear the colors, as it were, but marketing is too stingy to produce enought gimme caps to go around.

Lastly, if your item is commodity in nature, it can be sold by anyone, anywhere. Consider offering it yourself or spinning off a division to sell products for you. The upfront cost is tiny compared to the returns over even a short period of time.

Stay tuned. We’ll watch the online shopping shift and report where we learn.

steve

It’s the New Year and time for each and every one of us to sit back and reflect on our shortcomings and resolve to do better in 2008. By the end of the first month most have broken, altered or totally forgotten what they promised under the glare of the New Year’s scrutiny.

Every morning show since Jan 1 has blared out how we can make and keep our resolutions — as long as those resolutions are restricted to diet and exercise. No much about improving ourselves in other ways, just the old, standard “eat better” and “exercise” promises. I even heard one on a network morning talk show about how to eat fat to lose inches. Bet my doctor flinched at that one.

What a horrible, horrible tradition. Starting off a new year by focusing on our failings and promising to clean them all up. Why not take a more positive approach and spend the first days of the new year reflecting on all that we accomplished in the past year? Why not count our blessings instead of counting our shortcomings?

Indulgent as it seems, as a rule I think New Year’s Resolutions are foolishly ego centered. Too much emphasis is placed on improving how you look (by who’s measure, I ask). Improving your health, yea, losing weight, no, unless you’re obese.

A Request from Scrooge

Just before Christmas I wrote a piece that talked about Bill Murray in the movie “Scrooged,” and his entreaty to us all to make Christmas last a little longer than just that one day a year. I wrote about being more tolerant and understanding in such a dark and violent world. In the haste of the holiday season, I never published it.

But it all came back to mind a few days after Christmas when I went to shoot (photograph) the Trans-Siberian Orchestra at the American Airlines Center in Dallas. This was their Christmas show that I’ve seen several times and loved the experience each time.

Oddly, it wasn’t the message of good deeds done and Christmas cheer that caught my attention. No, it was standing in the midst of literally thousands of friends and families who stopped their world for a few hours to be together and celebrate something that felt really good.

Parents with their parents, and with their children both young and old, cheered the good music and teared up as the message of helping another person in need unfolded. The feeling was warm, comfortable and inviting. And when you’re surrounded by thousands of happy, cheerful people, it’s a very cool feeling.

I didn’t want it to end. Nor did they.

A Real Resolution

It dawned on me that we so seldom stop the world and get off for a while. We pack more and more into our lives — give long hours to work, get the kids involved in multiple activities, volunteer for school and community groups. And eventually build such great heaps of stress that we snap and injure ourselves (mentally and physically) or those around us.

Vacations don’t slow the pace, we cram too much into too short a time to really enjoy ouselves. Maybe that’s why movies, concerts and sporting events hold such allure. We get to escape for a few precious hours.

So here’s my resolution — SLOW DOWN.

Drive slower.

Plan a few fewer meetings in the day or week.

Get home a little earlier than normal. And when I get home, don’t immediately turn on the TV or computer, but spend time talking or reading.

Enjoy silence. Look at what’s around me and really see it.

Listen.

Date my wife more often.

Say thank you, and mean it.

At the office, make a point to say hello in the morning and goodbye at the end of the day.

Clean the kitchen after dinner.

Stop long enough to better enjoy the world I’ve been given.

In the words of Simon and Garfunkel — “Slow down, you move to fast. Got to make the moment last.”

Now that’s a New Year’s resolution I might keep, and I promise it will be enjoyed.

Cheers,
steve