We're about to enter the Chinese year of the snake, and retail commentator Jon Bird says shop operators can expect consumers to be pretty serpent-like in 2013.
"When you look at the characteristics of the snake - it's pretty close to the customer-type that retailers are facing now and in the near future," says Bird, chairman of retail marketing specialists IdeaWorks. "They're shrewd, scheming and intelligent and they want to be recognised and rewarded."
Retail spending slowed between the June and September quarters of 2012, according to Statistics NZ figures, although data from Eftpos processor Paymark suggested Christmas spending was up on last year.
But with cautious consumers unlikely to ramp up their spending significantly in 2013, Bird said the most important thing retailers could do was personalise their offerings.
Shoppers, he said, needed to be recognised as individuals and stores that ran loyalty programmes could gather valuable data on their customers' shopping habits.