Renew for Easter

Based on responses from about 8,000 adults to a survey conducted by BIGresearch, the National Retail Federation is predicting a noticeable hop up in Easter shopping this year:

• An overall increase of more than 10% in per customer spending over last year
• Among consumers between 25 and 34 years old, the age group most likely to have small children, an increase of almost 27% in spending
• By geographical region, highest interest in the Midwest, with 84% of consumers participating in Easter-specific spending, and the lowest among consumers in the Far West, still with 76%
• Product categories predicted to capture the biggest share of expenditures: Food, apparel, and candy

     Increase your Easter sales by recognizing the reasons for the predictions:

• Easter honors rebirth and renewal. Consumers fatigued with the recession and prolonged winter weather may be ready to give shopping another chance. Be sure to feature new items among the evergreen standbys in your product mix.
• This year, Easter Sunday falls later in the calendar than it has since 1943. Spring should be in abundant evidence. Use bright colors, floral themes, and other signs of spring in your ads and signage.
• There’s even an Easter theme movie this year. “Hop” is just gross enough to keep the kids entertained and at the very top of gross when it came to weekend box office dollar receipts. Look for ways to tie into “Hop” merchandise, big jelly beans, rabbit dolls, and candy chicks.

     No live rabbits or chicks, though, unless you’re confident the purchasers will care well over time for the animals they receive. More generally, with its focus on children, the Easter celebration can be an opportunity to cultivate and educate children into becoming wise consumers.
     University of Minnesota research indicates that a prime time for doing this is when children are ages 7 to 11. Around age 7, children's consumer skills start to blossom. Over the next few years, they become much better at recognizing the benefits made possible by product features, moving beyond a focus on the product features themselves. Their understanding increases for the correlation between money and value. They gain a greater ability to compare products and to do it on more than one dimension (such as ease of use and duration of use) at the same time. Their abilities grow to recognize that more is not always better.

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Cultivate Kids as Future Customers