Retailers Sale for Season End

By: Brianna Scafidi
Posted In: News

* Twenty percent off the total price of your purchase when you open a credit card.
* Ten dollars off today’s purchase just for trying on a pair of pants.
* A $25 coupon just to keep you coming back.

It certainly seems as though shopping is better in the winter, judging from some of the special offers from Newport’s retail stores.

According to Yahoo! News, retail sales have been higher than expected nationwide in the post-holiday season. Yahoo! cites the redemption of gift cards as a source of the elevated sales and says that cold temperatures have kept winter items selling.

Dr. Traci Warrington, associate professor and coordinator of marketing at Salve Regina University, explains that the high-sales period in a typical retail cycle includes the months leading into the holiday season, from the end of October until the end of December, followed by a slower period on the subsequent months. In the last five years, however, an increase in gift card sales during the holiday season has led to an increase in sales in January and February.

Since this period is still much slower than the holiday season, retailers work a little harder during this time to increase sales. “You see a lot of stores discounting,” says Warrington, “Macy’s and Filene’s do a lot of discounting to attract traffic. It gets consumers in the door, especially in the apparel market.”

But once customers are in the door, how can retailers convince them to buy items from their new spring lines when the temperatures are so cold that they just want to bundle up? “They’re selling hopes and dreams,” Warrington says. “Especially at this time of year, we’re so fed up with the cold weather and the snow and the heavy jackets that seeing the bright spring colors and the short sleeve shirts and shorts gives people hope that spring is just around the corner, and maybe the thought that if they buy them now spring will get here quicker.”

The hopes and dreams for sale at Express in downtown Newport seem to be selling quickly. The store is not only fully into the sale of their spring line, but is now starting to sell summer items. Sales assistant, Alicia Calci, says that sales have been

higher than expected in what is normally a slow period, and the spring line has actually received very good sales. But not all consumers have been fooled out of thinking they still need warm clothing. “We just had a sale on winter items” explains Calci, “and the clothes went really quickly.”

Calci explains that the redemption of gift cards along with sales offered by the store have helped boost business. The store sends out direct mail coupons to its customers and entices shoppers with special offers. If customers try on the new Editor pant, for example, they receive a coupon worth $10 to be redeemed in the store that day.

Similar sales and markdowns are being offered at Newport’s Banana Republic. The store offers 15 to 20 percent off the total price of a sale when the customer opens a Banana Republic credit card. “This increases sales,” says floor manager Jacqueline Daly, “and the credit card keeps customers coming back.” The main goal of Banana Republic is to beat last years sales, Daly says. The store faced a dramatic decline after the holiday season, and remains “just a little bit behind last years sales.” While the redemption of gift cards does help sales a little, Daly says that the cards are usually only worth about $25 or $50, so credit card purchases are what help the most.

In addition to the holiday season, Daly says that sales are much better in the summer when the store is open three hours later and the city of Newport is bustling with vacationers and day-trippers. “Everyone walks around before and after they go out for

dinner, so we get a lot more customers than we do in the winter,” she says.

Daly admits that she doesn’t quite understand how customers can be convinced to purchase items from the spring line when the winter weather remains so monstrous, but notes that it doesn’t seem to take much convincing. She, too, has started to buy clothing in hopes of the arrival of warm weather.

Whatever the weather conditions, Newport retailers seem to have the right combination of discounted merchandise, special offers and colorful spring items to keep customers coming back.