Captivating Connections.

on the 12th day of christmas, the box office gave to me...

...a record breaking number (and a partridge in a peartree).

(Cut me some slack here, I'm a Heeb).

Anyways, you get the point: It was a record breaking holiday season for the film industry...

"There was enough Christmas cheer for nearly everyone at the domestic B.O., which tallied its biggest weekend in history as a number of films -- led by 20th Century's 3D juggernaut 'Avatar' -- benefited from moviegoers stuffing themselves silly.

Revenues for the frame reached an estimated $280 million, overtaking the $260 million earned the weekend 'The Dark Knight' opened in July 2008.

In another milestone, domestic ticket sales for 2009 jumped the $10 billion mark for the first time ever, capping a record-breaking year that is running 12% ahead of last year. Attendance is up more than 5%."

forget the new shopper. what about the new shop?

"Now, even though consumers' spending remains weak, many retailers must carry out changes in order to compete in the future.

That's the view of Michael Collins, a partner in the retail and consumer practice of corporate consultant Bain & Co. He says that after focusing on cost-cutting and other short-term measures to weather the recession, retail chains and the malls that house them must reposition themselves to please consumers who have new demands and new ways of shopping.

One major problem for many store chains: They are too big, with either too many locations or too much square footage. Retail experts generally believe that the U.S. now has more stores than consumer demand can support.

Beyond that, Mr. Collins says, many stores are simply too large following the emergence of online shopping as the primary place where many consumers do their browsing.

Store chains must also take steps to make their locations more enticing destinations—for many, aisle after aisle of tightly stacked merchandise is no longer a good use of space. Some retailers, notably Best Buy Co., are already trying to make this transition with plans for 'experience-based' areas, turning the centers of their stores into showcases where people can play with the latest gadgets.

The emergence of the Internet as a sales behemoth also poses a challenge for malls that charge rents based on a percentage of sales. They will have to determine how to account for items that were purchased by computer but picked up in stores, says Maggie Gilliam, president of Gilliam & Co., an independent research and advisory firm in New York.

In the short term, recent news suggests a continuing rebound for consumers and retailers, albeit a modest one. Last week, the U.S. Labor Department reported that overall personal income rose 0.4% and wages and salaries rose 0.3%, while savings rates stayed steady at 4.5%."

is there good news for holiday shopping?

"The nation’s stores appear to have fared better this holiday shopping season than last year, according to early figures reported on Sunday. Major retailing categories had modest sales increases, while others fell slightly but still showed improvement."

However.....

"Despite that promising news, some consumers interviewed in stores over the weekend said they were exchanging their Christmas presents for everyday necessities and were continuing to curb their spending — suggesting that America’s retailers were still recovering from the deep economic recession.

Over all, retail sales from November through Dec. 24 rose 3.6 percent from last year, according to SpendingPulse, an information service of MasterCard Advisors that estimates sales for all forms of payment, including cash, checks and credit cards.

That number — which does not include sales of automobiles and gasoline — was helped this year by an extra shopping day between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Adjusting the results for that extra day cuts the retailing industry’s sales increase to about 1 percent, in line with what many retailing professionals expected.

While the numbers do not suggest a turnaround for the industry, they signal an improvement over last year’s 2.3 percent sales decline."

a fight to the finish.

"Many Americans have put off shopping for gifts and are taking a pragmatic approach to the holidays, according to a Consumer Reports holiday shopping poll.

As of Dec. 6, 40% of adults said that they have yet to hit the stores for gifts. Only 12% said they have finished their holiday shopping and nearly one-third (30%) do not anticipate finishing until Dec. 23 or later. About 13% shoppers indicate they will not finish until Dec. 24.

On average, people say they will be spending $699 on holiday gifts, $41 less than last year. Over the past three holiday shopping seasons, the average amount shoppers plan to spend on gifts has declined steadily, according to the poll. In 2008, shoppers anticipated spending $740, on average, down from $763 in 2007.

'Consumers are spending a bit less, focusing on more practical gifts, and vowing to take on less debt and pay it off sooner,' said Tod Marks, senior editor and shopping expert for Consumer Reports, in a statement."

consumer electronics ride again.

According to AdAge, "consumer electronics are tried-and-true annual holiday-sales drivers. But this holiday, thanks to a long year of price drops and the influence of the one super-retailer's aggressive marketing plans, consumer electronics have become the main draw of the season."

what's the deal with the new frugality?

Is it here to stay?

'People beginning to live within their means could well be the silver lining of the recession. If people...embrace change and maintain better financial habits, they will benefit in the long term, and the economy will, too.

'There will be good things that come out of this recession,' said Marcia Tillotson, a financial adviser at Wells Fargo Advisors.' Many people had not been conscious of what their lifestyle cost. Now, all of a sudden, they have become conscious of how they spend their money.'

The question is, will the panic and uncertainty of the financial crisis shape a generation and an economy in the deep mold of the Depression? Or will our pledges of prudence have all the heft of a New Year's diet resolution?

'You have to feel the pain before you really make a change,' said Gerri Detweiler, a personal finance adviser for Credit.com. 'The longer it takes for the economy to feel normal again, it is likely to have a longer-term effect on our spending habits, and the more ingrained these habits of thrift will become.'

Wiser habits in each household, experts say, will eventually help strengthen an economy that still shows vulnerabilities.

'The economy really represents decisions made by tens of millions of people every day,' said Bernard Baumohl, the chief global economist at the Economic Outlook Group.

He expects that a retooled economy will be fueled less by consumer spending."

the ultimate tool of 2009: mobile.

It's no shock that mobile devices are fast becoming the key tool for people around the world. This holiday season, though, online retailers are taking full advantage of its power...

"Online retailers are revamping the mobile versions of their sites so consumers can make purchases without tedious typing. And offline retailers, battling for every last dollar, are sending cellphone users electronic coupons to lure them away from competitors.

One in five shoppers said they intended to use their cellphones to shop this holiday season, according to an annual survey by Deloitte, the accounting and consulting firm. Of those, 45 percent said they would use their phone to research prices, 32 percent said they would use it to find coupons or read reviews and 25 percent said they would make purchases from their phones.

'We are at the cusp of this technology really driving a lot of activity during the shopping season,' said Stacy Janiak, United States retail practice leader at Deloitte. 'It is both an opportunity and a challenge for a retailer, because you can have a consumer who can cross-shop your store with other bricks-and-mortar stores or online, all from the convenience of your aisle.'

a new year worth celebrating.

After a year of doom and gloom, people are ready to put it behind them and move forward (for a night, at least).

"A new survey from American Express reports that many people will reward themselves for paring back on gifts with what it calls 'party driven' spending. Some 69% plan to celebrate with friends or family, and 45% plan to attend parties. And 90% plan to make purchases for the occasion.

Affluent people will spend $750, for example, and young professionals $470, on food, spirits and other festivities. Some 44% of young professionals plan to buy a new outfit to wear to a holiday party, and 24% of affluents and 31% of young professionals say they plan to get either their nails or hair done. Among partygoers, 68% say they will spring for a hostess present, spending an average of $35.

The American Express survey, which included just over 2,000 adults, also finds that people are somewhat more behind on their shopping than usual, with 66% saying they haven't finished yet, and 21% planning to continue their shopping right through the week before Christmas.

Of those, 31% are doing so in order to find better deals, 19% are still saving, 18% are just time-strapped, 11% are planning to use their last paycheck before Christmas, and an impressive 10% are waiting for Christmas to pass by entirely, so they can make out on post-holiday sales."

cpg brands take the hit.

"Consumers are defecting from iconic CPG brands as they try to save money by purchasing less-expensive store and private-label brands.

While this trend is not new, it has become more pervasive since the economic downturn started in December 2007, per eMarketer.
 
In fact, 59 percent of U.S. consumers reported having switched to store brand food and household products over the past six months, according to a May 2009 study by ICOM.
 
A study by the CMO Council and Pointer Media Network found that among 12 leading CPG brands, only three experienced increases in the number of loyal consumers between the first half of 2007 and the first half of 2008. The other nine experienced overall declines ranging from 2 percent to 9 percent. The study analyzed purchasing patterns of 34 million U.S. shoppers for two years across 685 leading CPG brands and 24,000 retail stores."

So, what does this mean for you?

"In today's recession, even lifelong devotees may bolt for lower-priced store brands. Offering coupons and samples does not necessarily seal the deal. CPG marketers need to get more creative, and fast. They must find new ways to reward loyalists while also luring prospects to their brands."

how sharing is really shared.

Forget all the 'trends'...apparently it's all about 'old school' email when it comes to sharing...

"Ordinary email is still king when it comes to sharing content online, according to new research from ShareThis.

The company's 'ShareThis' button has become ubiquitous at the end of articles and blog posts, linking to a widget that lets users share material via email, instant messenger and social networking tools including Facebook, Twitter, StumbleUpon and Yahoo Buzz. With user data from 200 million monthly visitors across 130,000 sites, the service has amassed a wealth of data about how people share and engage with content.

Email remains the tool of choice for that purpose, accounting for 46% of content-sharing activity compared to 33% for Facebook, 14.5% via other channels and just 6% for Twitter. People who receive links through ShareThis also tend to spend time with the content, at an average 2.95 page views per click, followed by Facebook (2.76), with Twitter trailing at 1.66.

Where the microblogging service shone was in getting recipients of forwarded articles to click on links. Twitter generates 40% of the clicks generated by shared content, with email and other social properties accounting for 35% and nearly a quarter coming from Facebook.

For every post sent to Twitter, 18 people will click on that link compared to three for Facebook and one for email."