It's hard to believe that the holiday shopping season is almost upon us.
Many of us are still recovering from the bonanza of deals associated with Amazon (AMZN) -) Prime Day in July and the accompanying Target (TGT) -) and Walmart (WMT) -) versions of the days of deals, called Circle Week and Walmart+ Week respectively.
DON'T MISS: Amazon just announced October Prime Big Deal Days — here are the top deals to look for
Ready or not, though, October is just weeks away, and that marks the official start of the shopping push. For many public retailers, October also marks the beginning of the oh-so-important Q4, which encompasses those three precious months typically associated with elevated revenue thanks to the holiday sales rush (October-December, roughly speaking).
Amazon has already gotten ahead of the curve, announcing on Monday its upcoming Prime Prime Big Deal Days, which will take place on October 10-11, 2023. It's almost sure to be a success, seeing as Amazon's first set of Prime Days, which ran July 11-12, 2023, brought in a record $12.7 billion in sales and the first day marked its most successful sales day yet.
Target and Walmart would probably like to take some piece of that pie, too. And as the retail industry consolidates and becomes only fiercer by the year, so too have the promotions.
Target aims to make holiday shopping better
In preparation for what needs to be a busy holiday shopping season, Target is bringing in all the help it can be by packing its shelves and aisles with reinforcement.
First, it will hire 100,000 additional employees across all locations to assist with the uptick in foot traffic beginning in October.
Target will also run promotions through the season. It will bring back its version of Prime Day, called Target Circle Week for a week from October 1-7. Also beginning October 1 will be its Deal of the Day, which will run from October 1 through Christmas Eve and serve as a way for Circle Members to pick up previously full, price gift-able items. It says it will also focus on gifts in the under $25 price point.
Target made similar moves in 2022, hiring approximately 100,000 workers to pick up extra shifts and help with a busier shopping season. It needed all the help it could get; in February 2023, holiday sales only increased by 1% year-over-year and CEO Brian Cornell said a "a very challenging environment," included price hikes and inventory excess were to blame for the less-than-exciting numbers.
Recent reports suggest retailers could be in for the slowest holiday shopping season in five years -- potentially bringing numbers back down to pre-pandemic levels.
Deloitte projects that sales across all channels, including in-store and online may only rise between 3.5-4.6% between those coveted months from November to January, accounting for an extra $1.54 -$1.56 trillion in sales. This is surely still an increase, however in 2022 sales jumped 7.6% thanks in part to inflation, as well as a resounding return to in-store shopping and some pent up savings still being spent.
And a report by consulting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas projects U.S. seasonal hiring could hit its biggest slowdown since 2008, given the high cost of labor and employment.
Deloitte and others estimate that a majority of those reserves have since been tapped out and weary consumers are shoring up debts and watching their wallets more closely as they prepare for what could be another expensive -- and potentially volatile -- year in both the financial and political world.
