Holiday Season is Almost Here and Goizueta Business School has Holiday Experts Ready to Help

The holidays are the difference between operating in the red and operating in the black for many retail businesses. The Goizueta Business School has experts who can provide insight and expertise on a wide range of stories.

Economics of the Holiday Season - Economist Tom Smith can discuss seasonal hiring, retail expectations, and the importance of the holiday season to retailers.

Black Friday - Doug Bowman can discuss retail expectations and the importance of the holiday season to retailers. He expects this year shoppers will go to fewer stores and not travel long distances, delivery capacity will be an issue, and work from home/school purchases will be hot.

AI Changing How We Shop - David Schweidel can discuss how new AI tools are changing how we shop and how brands are using AI to reach prospective customers.

Product Reviews See Huge Increases: How Reviews Impact Holiday Shopping -

What do reviews mean for the shopping experience and do reviews impact purchase? Reshma Shah can discuss the impact reviews have on the point of purchase.

Product Returns - Marat Ibragimov can discuss the retail strategy and impact of holiday gift returns, comparing online returns to brick and mortar.

Food and Travel Pricing - Saloni Firasta Vastani can discuss the cost of this year’s holiday dinners. What’s gone up and what’s gone down? She can also discuss the cost of travel this holiday season and what consumers can do to get a better deal.

Avoiding Holiday Overspend - Rohan Ganduri can discuss how holiday shopping can expose consumers to credit products like store credit cards that offer various incentives to take up the credit card, often resulting in overspending. Ganduri can discuss his latest research paper on how taking up store credit cards can impact consumers’ future credit outcomes.

Social Media & Advertising - David Schweidel can discuss how micro influencers work, how using product placement can cut through the advertising clutter, and the power of product reviews.

The Constantly Changing Online Retail Experience - Styling videos, personal shoppers, messaging, and even Augmented Reality (AR) are being used to generate purchases. Doug Bowman can discuss how stores are reimagining the shopping experience to attract customers in person and online.

Influencers Influencing Our Purchases - How are creators impacting the economy and are influencers impacting our purchasing decisions? Marina Cooley looks at the creator economy and how TikTok and Instagram are impacting our holiday wish lists and what it takes for a product to go from unknown to trending. She can also discuss how this holiday season will help normalize in-app TikTok shopping (something Instagram has struggled to execute on).

How to Attract Customers to the Store this Holiday: Merging Online and In-person Experiences May be the Answer - Shopping looks different and it is up to retailers to stand out not just in the brick and mortar world but also online. The success of a business can balance on the customer experience. Reshma Shah can discuss the policies brick and mortar retailers need to have in place to successfully merge online shopping and the in-person shopping experience.

To book your expert interview, call Kim Speece at (404) 849-6579 or email her at kim@leffassociates.com or simply click on the icon available.

To find an expert on a specific topic, click the “Search” feature at https://goizueta.emory.edu/faculty/profiles.

To check out other recent research, visit https://www.emorybusiness.com/faculty-research/.