Tips on covering retail this Christmas season

By Kayla Carrick

UNC-Chapel Hill

(Editor's note: The Society of American Business Editors and Writers held a conference call Wednesday for retail reporters, offering tips on the upcoming shopping season.)

Anne D'Innocenzio, a national retail writer with the The Associated Press, started planning out her coverage of the holiday season in August.

And with seven years of experience writing about the retail market, D'Innocenzio is familiar with finding fresh ways to write about consumer trends during the holiday season.

On Wednesday, D'Innocenzio was on hand with three other veteran retail reporters to talk about the interesting angles the economy has created for holiday retail stories, tips for covering "Black Friday" and how to localize larger retail trends.

The panel was moderated by Maria Halkias, the retail reporter for the Dallas Morning News. More than 90 reporters and editors listened to the call, and the audio replay is now available on the SABEW web site.

"Every season is different, every year is different," D'Innocenzio said. "We are focusing on stories that have a lot of impact."

For the upcoming holidays, retail beat reports say the slumping housing market, high food and gas prices and the decline of the dollar against the Euro all will affect what consumers purchase during the busiest shopping months of the year.

Abigail Goldman, (right) a reporter with the Los Angeles Times, said traditional holiday retail stories should be tailored to shape shoppers mentality toward the economy.

This year, business reporters predict declining home prices and high food and gas prices could translate into less consumer spending and less success for local stores.

D'Innocenzio said that she already has seen more tourists making purchases in the U.S. because of the decline of the dollar against the Euro and that she expects that trend to continue through the holiday shopping season. In addition to the strong Euro, the sharp increase in Canadian currency is likely to increase cross-border shopping, the panelists said.

Goldman said that while the economy will have a much larger impact on consumer habits, the summer recalls on Chinese-made toys could sway some buyers.

Since the recalls, Mattel is batch testing every toy, said Goldman, who has covered toys for 10 years.

"That is something I've never heard about," she said. "That's an incredible level of testing."

With the extra testing, Goldman said product shortages could prove to be a big story.

Despite the fact that earlier this year consumers were claiming they would never buy anything from China, Goldman said she doesn't think past recalls will override providing children toys they want.

"I just have a tough time buying that because that would mean everyone's getting Legos and maybe a couple other brands for Christmas," she said. "What people say they're worried about and what they actually do may be different things."

Parents are more concerned with getting their children the toys they want than with checking what company manufactures the toys, Goldman said.

Besides crafting stories around issues currently facing the economy, retail beat reporters suggest more features stories and more localized stories to enhance coverage.

Mark Albright, (left) a retail writer with the St. Petersburg Times, writes "day-in-the-life stories" to vary holiday coverage. Albright often will profile a toy store manager or a department store manager.

Feature stories about small stores or shopping centers for which a successful holiday season is vital also can accompany more traditional trend stories.

"It's about being familiar with what's in your area," said Albright, who says he frequents parking lots to check traffic and catch up with shoppers. "You actually have to get out and go to the stores. That's where the whole thing happens."

Albright said reporters should keep in mind that traffic numbers don't necessarily mean more purchases.

Retail reporters advise substituting quotes from shoppers in wire stories with anecdotes from local buyers, and including sidebars about local company's tactics along with more general marketing strategy stories.

To localize stories, retail reporters spend time at local malls gauging shoppers' attitudes. Goldman said her past experience shows that people are in a "chatty" mood, especially on Black Friday, or the day after Thanksgiving. Goldman, who claims she has been thrown out of stores while reporting, advises sparking up casual conversation with shoppers sifting through products.

"You don't have to walk into a store with a big fedora that says 'scoop' on it," she said.

This year, more retailers are opening at midnight for Black Friday because of stores that have been successful in past years, reporters said.

D'Innocenzio said it's vital to talk to shoppers at busy stores on Black Friday because a reporter will rely on anecdotal information to write a story to run after Thanksgiving weekend.

"Everyone wants to give their assessment on how Thanksgiving weekend did, and it's hard because there aren't any hard numbers," she said. "You have to trust the people that you're interviewing."

And holiday season stories on the retail beat don't end shortly after Thanksgiving, or even after Christmas. Veteran retail beat reporters say January is becoming more of an important month for retail stories.

Stores are bringing in fresh merchandise, older items go on discount, people return unwanted Christmas gifts and start to redeem gift cards. Also, larger chain stores will report December sales on Jan. 10. If stores had an unsuccessful holiday season, many will close in January.

For D'Innocenzio, post-Christmas trend stories and pieces leading up to the day that have a pulse on the shifting economy only are effective if the focus is on the impact the trends will have on consumers.

"We're focusing on the big ones."

Carrick is a junior at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill studying business journalism.

Posted Nov. 8, 2007