Holiday Shopping 2013: Professors Available for Media Analysis
Deborah Lohse
SANTA CLARA, Calif., Oct. 30, 2013 — Professors from the Retail Management Institute at Santa Clara University’s Leavey School of Business and the university’s department of psychology are available for comment on trends, challenges and tactics expected be used by consumers and retailers this season.
1. Kirthi Kalyanam (pr. Kal-YAHN-um), director, Retail Management Institute at Santa Clara University --- (408) 554-2705 or kkalyanam@scu.edu.
Faculty page: http://www.scu.edu/business/marketing/faculty/kalyanam.cfm
Among the topics Prof. Kalyanam can discuss:
*The impact of the shorter shopping season this year, with a late Thanksgiving that overlaps with Hannukah;
*His expectation that we’ll see an explosion in “showrooming” – or using retail stores to look at merchandise that is actually purchased online – and how retailers will cope.
*The rise of Walmart eCommerce, which has received a great deal of investment from the low-cost behemoth.
*The predicted escalation of “same day shipping.”
2. Dale Achabal (pr. ATCH -a -ball), executive director, Retail Management Institute at Santa Clara University --- (408) 554-4679 or dachabal@scu.edu.
Faculty page: http://www.scu.edu/business/marketing/faculty/achabal.cfm
Among the topics Prof. Achabal can discuss:
*The growth of mobile shopping, or using smartphones for everything from price checking, social media, or scanning codes for more information (something that Best Buy and others plan to offer). Some retailers will begin accepting mobile payments, he predicts.
*How some retailers plan to leverage, not fight, “showrooming” by their customers.
*Novel ways that retailers and consumers will benefit from the movement toward “omni-channel” retail – mobile, Internet, in-store and mail order.
*Same-day shipping issues.
3. Tom Plante, Ph.D, professor of psychology at Santa Clara University, tplante@scu.edu or 650-346-2043 (cell).
Faculty page: http://www.scu.edu/psychology/faculty/plante.cfm.
Prof. Plante can discuss the psychology behind holiday shopping and how retailers work hard to get customer to spend more than they budgeted, including tips to resist.
Media Contact:
Deborah Lohse | SCU Media Relations | dlohse@scu.edu | 408-554-5121