Welcome back to cheddar news, Everyone tomorrow is thanksgiving
, which means we are two days away from the
biggest shopping day in the country. Black friday of
course. And it also means that next week is
cyber week, the biggest time of the year for
online shopping. But for many companies and consumers,
the holiday shopping season is already underway and retailers have
been getting creative in their attempts to lure in customers
, but ongoing supply chain issues inflation and the pandemic
could impact sales as well, joining us now to
break all of this down and more. The Ceo
and founder of the Lioness group Melissa, Gonzalez Melissa
, thanks so much for joining us before the holiday
. Want to go ahead and start with walmart.
How is the retailer trying to attract new customers with
livestreamed events like one featuring Singer Jason Derulo? Yeah
, you're definitely more and more in livestream. Um
a lot of growth of it over the past 18
months, two years, you know with the pandemic
and so what they're doing is is partnering with the
well known celebrity and utilizing that um to attract online
traffic to to the brand. Um and I think
it's, you know what we're seeing a lot happening
with brands being really creative with technology um and being
able to partner with influencers, influencer partnerships side of
it isn't new per se. Um but we're seeing
continued validation of the possibilities of livestream. Um we're
seeing a lot of brands being able to utilize this
to, to have an immersive experience without having the
physical aspect of it um with, with, with
product demos and engagement and excitement and also uh evokes
this sense of community where consumers are getting to kind
of shop with like minded consumers with friends. You
all have seen instances where people have actually shopped together
and gone in on purchases together through this sort of
platform. Um so I think it's a, it's
a great example of um you know, retailers thinking
um a little bit more creatively into the holiday season
. Yeah, and melissa, it's really interesting because
with all of this recent talk of the metaverse,
it's just such a big buzz um and also the
pandemic and how it's impacted a lot of retailers and
their different strategies digitally and virtually to reach customers.
Do you think this is something we'll see more often
um in lieu of experiential things that we may have
seen in the past, I think you are going
to definitely see it more and more. We've seen
a lot of great collaborations happening this year uh in
the luxury industry, for example, with balenciaga in
Fortnite and um but you've also seen a lot in
the food industry with the aspect of gaming with Reese's
puffs and cinnamon toast and um free delay and so
um yes, I think you can continue to see
it, the next layer is really gonna be merging
the two together. It's a lot of conversations around
, how do we add this digital layer of immersion
actually into the in store experience. Um you see
what's happened in the past with like Pokemon and those
collaborations and it drives traffic to the store and there's
a competitive element to an adventure element to it.
So we are seeing that more and more. Um
It's a hot topic, it's it's something that a
lot of companies are trying to figure out what to
invest in. I would say it's a mix between
that metaverse layer and also um N. F.
T. S. Got it um and bringing things
back to black friday. What are some of the
other big name retailers doing to prepare for black friday
and also cyber week as we mentioned some of the
different pressures in terms of the economy, supply chain
issues are driving more people to shop in person this
year as well as online. For sure. You
definitely, it's an interesting thing right? If I
go in person, I most likely can grab that
inventory and take it home with me and I don't
have as much risk of getting that product on time
. I think it varies per category. For sure
. Um But there's definitely you know you saw announcements
um earlier this year a couple months ago um with
some of the larger brands making the commitment to secure
that inventory right? Um And making sure that they
had more control over that supply chain and making sure
that it's getting to the end. Consumer. Um
you're also seeing another announcement that because you brought up
walmart is like what they're doing um with static and
autonomous driving and shortening that middle mile in order in
order to better um fulfill that need. So um
I think it's it's brand being proactive about it.
A lot of sales also started early. That's not
something brand new. We saw that over the past
couple of years continuing to happen, but that message
and getting out there, don't wait to shop.
You got to do it early. Um And I
think that you're seeing continued evidence that consumers do want
to get out. Um So I think it's gonna
be a blend. I think it's gonna depend on
what the product is. Um If people feel more
comfortable to shop it online or to go in store
on the opposite side of the coin for the in
person shopping. How do you think that some of
the labor shortage will affect a lot of these big
retailers? Because of course there's this attention and focus
on making sure the inventory gets there. It's almost
like if you haven't gotten it in this fall season
before the holidays, it's not going to be a
good look for the company. But the other side
of that is also the amount of staffers that are
able to work these floors, make sure that they're
maintained that inventory is out on the floor and where
it should be. How do you anticipate this will
look for the experience of the customer. Yeah.
It's going to be a challenge. Labor, labor
has been a challenge since, you know, doors
started reopening again for sure. There's a lot of
label shortages. Um, there's a lot of communications
. I think that needs to go out proactively to
consumers so they know what to expect. I think
that there's creative ways to really communicative what's, um
, and giving visibility to the consumer of what's in
stock in store um, versus one location versus the
other or the ability to to drop ship it to
consumers. So they're still having the opportunity and physical
retail to discover what they want. Um, and
then the sales person is equipped to easily figure out
where that's located, you know, within their portfolio
of locations that they can efficiently get it to a
customer. I think that if that can be done
in an effective way, you could still have a
happy consumer in the end because the last thing you
want is somebody has this great experience of discovery,
right? And then they can't have that product.
So the more and more that brands have taken the
initiative to really connect their back end systems and make
sure that there is a real real time transparency and
visibility to where stock can be located. Um,
the better position that those brands and retailers are going
to be and next year the saturday after black friday
, it's known as small business saturday. What should
people know about shopping during this period and what deals
do you think they can expect from mom and pop
stores during this time? Yeah, I mean I
think that we've seen increased um interest in kind of
that shopping local and supporting local. So it's an
interesting how it stacks back and back to each other
. But a lot of these brands and smaller mom
and pop shops, I think we've seen a lot
of them become a lot more savvy over the past
year or so as well of how they're integrating things
like even QR codes or order ahead or curbside pickup
um to make it feel comfortable and safe. But
also I think we have continuous trend of consumers wanting
to, you know, kind of support their local
community. Um And so you know you see more
people kind of wanting to go out and get those
unique elements from those smaller mom and pop shops and
it's kind of like Serving two purposes. I'm doing
good and then supporting my local and I'm finding something
unique for for the person that I'm shopping for and
to that point um I just wanted to almost reverse
the tables. Do you have any insight on how
a lot of these small businesses are doing as far
as pandemic recovery and being able to offer a lot
of these deals during the holiday season. Um Is
it kind of like a trade a barter there for
them to offer the deals and potentially lose profit on
one side, but then also get more customers into
the doors. Yes and no. I mean,
I don't know if that is always has to be
the hook to support local. I think, you
know, it's interesting their, their value propositions a
little bit different and they can lean into other aspects
of the uniqueness of what they curate. Um,
but I think that um, some of the advantages
that smaller businesses have, often as those products are
widely offered, so there isn't as much pricing pressure
and competition and comparative shopping against what they're selling their
products for. So, a lot of times you
can use that to your advantage, I think.
And not worry that my offering the lowest deal possible
because you're offering something that's not widely distributed in a
little bit more unique. Um, and that's probably
what they're buying into versus let me find the cheapest
deal possible. So, I think that, you
know, you want to offer a deal if you're
a small business, but you don't have as much
pressure to be the lowest priced as people are comparative
shopping for the same exact product. All right,
So many good things to keep in mind. That
was Melissa Gonzalez, founder and Ceo of the Lioness
Group. Thank you so much Melissa