EP198 - Holiday Forecasts   A weekly podcast with the latest e-commerce news and events. Episode 198 covers the 2019 holiday forecasts, store visits, and news. Reviews Jason & Scot both received the new Apple AirPods Pro and the Amazon Echo Buds.  Both liked the Apple product better.  Echo buds had better noise cancelation, but an inferior fit/design, poor microphone, and a case that’s too big for a pocket. Trip Reports Nordstrom NYC Flagship Amazon Bookstore remodels and FourStar Showfields Macy’s new Story display  Starbucks Pickup Only location News Gap CEO, Art Peck steps down  Sears Closing 96 more stores, leaving 182 Sears and Kmart stores  Barneys Liquidation Assets – Great American Group and Tiger Capital Group IP – Authentic Brands, will be licensed to Saks Fifth Ave Profitero Price Study (Amazon is price leader) Shopify – Adds an Email ESP First Insight Study “Amazon Past it’s Prime” – Pretty silly methodology (stated preferences of 1000 people), don’t put too much stock in it. Holiday Forecasts NRF Nov-Dec excludes automobile dealers, gasoline stations and restaurant 3.8% – 4.2% over 2018 to a total of between $727.9 billion and $730.7 billion (vs 2.1% last year, or 3.7% last 5 years). AlixPartners November-January Total Retail increase of 4.4% to 5.3%  Deloitte: November – January Total sales are expected to exceed $1.1 trillion  Total Retail 4.5% to 5% rise in 2019 (vs. 3.1% last year) Digital $144-$149B 14-18% growth (up from 11.2% in 2018) Kantar Oct-Dec Total Retail 3.8% (vs. 3.1% last year) Online 14% vs 10.8% last year Salesforce November 1 to December 31 Digital revenue growth this holiday season at 13% YoY to 4136B Hub: https://www.salesforce.com/solutions/industries/retail/holiday-insights Adobe Nov-Dec 14.1% increase online (totaling $143.7B) MetaForecast (summary of the forecasts): 14.25% Online  (range is 13-18%)  4.35% Total Retail (range is 3.7% – 5.3%) – last yr was 2.1% Don’t forget to like our facebook page, and if you enjoyed this episode please write us a review on itunes. Episode 196 of the Jason & Scot show was recorded on Thursday November 7th, 2019. http://jasonandscot.com Join your hosts Jason "Retailgeek" Goldberg, Chief Commerce Strategy Officer at Publicis, and Scot Wingo, CEO of GetSpiffy and Co-Founder of ChannelAdvisor as they discuss the latest news and trends in the world of e-commerce and digital shopper marketing. Automated Transcription of the show Transcript Jason: [0:24] Welcome to the Jason and Scott show this is episode 198 being recorded on Thursday November 7th 2019 I’m your host Jason retailgeek Goldberg and as usual I’m here with your Cup host Scott Wingo. Scot: [0:39] Hey Jason and welcome back Jason Scott show listeners Jason Ritter episode 198 and we have a really big surprise for everyone on episode 200 I’m giddy all over with excitement. Jason: [0:51] I know I am to every each time I say one of those big numbers in the intro I’m like oh my God we’re going to have to learn how to start saying the twos it’s like our Y2K day. Scot: [1:01] For those listeners that haven’t seen Jason give a life talk he always talks about how if you enjoy the talk there’s over X hours of him out on the internet, pretty soon you can build a role that part of your side over to 200. Jason: [1:17] I know it turns out I’ve been lying cuz I generally like round up to 200 hours in those live talks and in preparation for our big 200 anniversary show I did the math and it’s actually like 176 hours of us. Scot: [1:31] Close enough we’ll get there eventually keep plugging away. Jason: [1:36] Yeah we might tonight who knows. Scot: [1:43] Anyway so Thanksgiving is only three weeks away so we thought we would spend a fair amount of this episode looking at the Holiday forecast but before we do I’ll be Gadget Geeks we wanted to talk a little bit about that first so you and I both had the fortune to get the latest new Wireless your devices so airpod pros and Echo buds came out and everyone on Twitte