Today's shoppers have more retail choices than ever. Where, other than in your store, do you think they're spending their dollars?

Locally, trends seem to reflect the national reports we heard around the holidays. Very high end items (home electronics, fine jewelry, furs, etc.) continue to enjoy strong sales, according to friends of mine who own those types of stores. The interesting twist is which retailers consumers purchase from. While smaller boutique stores flourish, the monolithic department stores are struggling in the exact same product categories. The relationship between buyer and seller (customer and retailer) has become as vital a part of the sale as the product itself — a huge benefit to those of us in boutique settings.

They are spending more money pampering themselves: spa visits, massages, and pedicures. My customers will often buy themselves a little pick-me-up at my store, but lately more of them say they've splurged on a massage, or a day of beauty. It's becoming more common to do something nice for yourself without a special occasion. Our spa product sales have grown too, as customers learn the value of relieving stress or caring for their skin. We're also seeing a growing trend toward customers purchasing a vacation home, because much of our base is looking to retire soon. It's opening a nice additional market for us, because they need things to put in these homes, and enjoy the liberated feeling that the vacation home can be totally different from their regular home.

Shoppers are spending their money these days all under one roof, at big box and discount chain stores such as Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Lowe's, Target, Marshalls, and TJ Maxx. Most of these giant stores carry merchandise that has a good look. The products' price points are almost always better than the independent retailer can afford to match, because they're buying in huge quantities or buy-outs. The result is that the consumer's dollar goes a long way in these places, plus there's the convenience of one-stop shopping for busy people.

Unfortunately, they are spending it at the big box stores. If somebody's picking and choosing, they'll go to a discount house and buy a lot of really inexpensive things rather than buying better quality. They're not necessarily buying gifts, but they may be buying items for entertaining. And with the price of gas today, I don't know what's going to happen with the tourist industry. Normally, I would expect people to spend money traveling, but now I expect them to stay closer to home. It's not so much dollars as how they spend their time. People have such hectic lives, it becomes increasingly important for us to make customers' lives easy, to take as much stress out of shopping as possible.

That's it for April 2005. Next month's issue gets you ready for the 2005 holidays as our editors pick the products for third and fourth quarter sales. Until then, keep up-to-date with industry news via our weekly e-newsletter, Gifts & Dec Direct, and the latest product introductions in our bi-weekly e-report, Gifts & Dec Product Wire.