Special edition podcast: Black Friday weekend and holiday marketing trends

That’s why this week on the Modern Retail Podcast, we brought on our colleagues at the Glossy Beauty Podcast to talk about the major retail narratives we’re observing.

Modern Retail’s editor-in-chief, Cale Guthrie Weissman, joined Glossy’s West Coast correspondent Lexy Lebsack and senior reporter Sara Spruch-Feiner and dove into the major shopping trends dominating this holiday season.

They discussed holiday sales forecasts and what that means for brands. “People will be spending a little bit more than last year,” said Lebsack. ‘We’re set to spend almost a trillion dollars in the last two months of the year.”

Other topics include the rise of chaos shopping alongside new plaforms like Temu and Amazon’s Haul. “I think there’s a lot of high-income people spending in a very chaotic way on Tiktok Shop, and potentially that might be what Amazon is going for [with Haul],” said Spruch-Feiner.

They also talked about brands marketing their products for self-gifting. “I do think that there are a lot of brands that are doing specific marketing for self-gifting,” said Weissman. “And I do think that it is fitting with where we are culturally right now in the United States.”

A few highlights from the episode:

The rise of chaos shopping
Spruch-Feiner: “We had Matt Newman, also known as Matt Loves Hair, on the podcast… I was like, ‘Do you buy stuff on TikTok?’ And he was like, ‘Oh my God, all the time, like to the point that I can’t even keep up with the packages coming to my house.’ And we all know that creators make a very good living. And I think, it’s like, yeah, the prices are really low. But [there are] people that can actually afford this level of chaos… I’m sure there are plenty of low-income, middle-income people spending in a way that is potentially irresponsible… on apps like this. But I also think what’s really interesting is: I think there’s a lot of high-income people spending in a very chaotic way on Tiktok Shop, and potentially that might be what Amazon is going for [with Haul].”

Self-gifting is all the rage
Weissman: “It’s more of a marketing thing than it is like [an] actual phenomenon: the rise of self-gifting. Brands are saying, ‘Treat yourself,’ that type of thing. But I actually do think this year might be a little different because… it’s kind of self-soothing in a certain way. You’re like, I don’t know what’s going on — things are really frenetic. I don’t know politically what’s going to happen or where my paycheck is going to go — but I will buy this specific thing for me, and there’s a slight discount specifically because it’s the holidays. So I do think that there are a lot of brands that are doing specific marketing for self-gifting. and I do think that it is fitting with where we are culturally right now in the United States.”

Why brands are reticent to sell on TikTok
Lebsack: “We talked a lot about this at the Glossy Beauty and Wellness Summit last week. I think that a lot of brands that we spoke to really expressed this sort of fear and like hesitation around [selling on TikTok] because they don’t wanna alienate their traditional retailers — you know, the Sephora, the Ulta, the Nordstrom, the the big retailers in America. They don’t want to make them mad. We know that it can feel like it’s sort of alienating or monopolizing some of the sales. But also, at the same time, I think that brands have realized that they kind of have to be on Tiktok Shop if it’s not going anywhere — if only for a marketing play; if only to be able to seed to people who haven’t had the opportunity to try the product; if only to make them into a subscriber on their website.”