By Ed Avis
Somebody should make a mask of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, because he is the scariest character of all for bricks-and-mortar retailers. But during an NCA members-only panel discussion on July 13, four experts offered ideas on beating Amazon this Halloween season (to view a recording of the panel, which covered many other Halloween-related topics, click here to log into the Member Portal, then click on the box that says Recorded Webinars).
Amazon, of course, is the 800-pound gorilla of retailing, and it only got fatter during COVID. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t ways for costume shops on Main Street to win the battle for customers. Below are three tips for beating Amazon this year.
Tip 1: Same-Day Pick-up
First, make sure your own online shopping presence is solid and that customers have the ability to place an order and then come right over and pick it up. Amazon offers some same-day delivery on certain items – you can offer it on every item for customers who are local to you.
“This is something that the pandemic has been teaching a lot of retailers – the value of being able to order something online and just go right in and pick it up,” said Tom Arnold, a professor at the University of Richmond who is known as a Halloween retail expert and who was a panelist during the July 13 event. “That has to work pretty flawlessly and not create any logjams.”
Brandon Lilly, owner of Life of the Party Costume Shop in Fort Collins, Colorado and another panelist, agreed that immediate availability can be a game-changer: “Offering same-day shipping or in-store pickup…helps you pull away from the idea, ‘Oh well, I can get it in 48 hours if I order from Amazon.’ We have found this to be incredibly successful.”
Tip 2: Let Them Try it On
A second essential way a bricks-and-mortar store can stick it to Amazon this year is by emphasizing that customers can touch products, try on costumes, test make-up, and do countless other in-person things they could never do online.
“A lot of people would rather come in and try on a costume, and they want to touch the fabric and see how things work and see the quality,” Lilly said. “We’ve all learned from buying on Amazon that these may not be exactly like what their pictures look like.”
Terry Sinopoli, another panelist, handles the marketing for her family’s shop, Arlene’s Costumes in Rochester, N.Y. She explained that Arlene’s has had a successful online presence for 20 years, and during COVID she added an appointment feature that made it convenient and safe for customers to come into the store.
“While we were closed, we would do very small appointments and then wipe everything down in between. We kept that going after we reopened. We allow people to come in for appointments or just to do a quick grab-and-go if they need something,” says Sinopoli. “We see it a lot for theatrical makeup, we see it a lot for when somebody has a big party and they just need something fast.”
Tip 3: Stock Up Early
Because of worldwide logistics problems, shipping products is more difficult and expensive than ever. Scott Morris, another panelist and co-owner of Morris Costumes, noted that shipping containers from China cost 10 times as much as usual this year, and they are running months behind schedule.
Plus many parts of the world are not well vaccinated against COVID, which affects their workforces, and ransomware attacks are “feasting on desperate supply chains,” Arnold says.
All of this points to greatly delayed shipping in the months before Halloween. And that’s Amazon’s Achilles heel – whenever they have trouble getting product into their warehouses and/or into customers’ homes, buyers become unhappy.
Furthermore, what happens if a customer finally gets a costume they ordered from Amazon and it doesn’t fit or it’s the wrong color or style? If shipping either direction is delayed, and Halloween is close, that customer will have no choice but to visit your store.
“Amazon will still have a capacity problem of getting the orders out fast enough,” Morris says. “The UPSs and FedEx of this world are going to have peak season surge charges. They already have some in place now, and those will grow as we move through the fall and Halloween and holiday season. So I think that's going to push costs up… and I think that's what give us some opportunities. Customers that need stuff right away or whatever will be going to the stores.”
But you can’t take advantage of Amazon’s vulnerability in this regard if you don’t have inventory yourself. So if you haven’t placed Halloween orders yet, do it now! Check out the offers from 28 NCA Vendor Members who belong to the Buyer’s Group by clicking here.
Editor’s Note: To view a recording or read a transcript of the panel, which covered many other Halloween-related topics, click here to log into the Member Portal, then click on the box that says Recorded Webinars.