CALLING ALL RETAILERS: 

Holiday Season 2013 is officially underway! Now that Halloween is over, retailers are preparing for the large push that will take place from now all the way through Christmas to New Year’s. Consumers are looking to spend big, as always; estimates suggest a nearly $738 billion expenditure on this year’s celebrations.

But many retailers may be missing an opportunity to cash in on one major holiday known for bringing plenty of gelt to the average storefront:

Hanukkah!

Why Hanukkah? There are plenty of reasons to stock the shelves with menorahs, chocolate coins and singing rabbis. But to keep things simple, here are the top five. 

#1: The world Jewish population is substantial and urbanized.

The world Jewish population is not the largest minority group, but they are still a large group worth catering to when it comes to holiday spending. Jews make up only 1.7 percent of the American population, but nearly 25 percent of American Jews live in the state of New York and many are in New York City. Tel Aviv, New York, Haifa, LA, and Jerusalem make up more than half of the world’s Jewish population. Philadelphia, Chicago, Buenos Aires and Boston are also hugely populated by Jews.

Retailers looking to sell Hanukkah goods should actively seek out consumers in these cities. Since consumers are urbanizing as is, this makes Hanukkah promotions much easier to couple with other holiday marketing efforts.

#2: The First Thanksgivvukah!

There is a sweeping movement right now to celebrate what some are calling “Thanksgivvukah!”, the first official intersection of Thanksgiving and Hanukkah in modern retail history. Unseen since 1888, Thanksgivvukah gives Jewish consumers the opportunity to roll two holidays into one. Retailers, in response, now have the chance to adjust and perhaps capitalize on the phenomenon. Thanksgiving is already expected to be a HUGE purchasing day this year; one third of shoppers who are shopping on Black Friday (News - Alert) now plan to start shopping before midnight on Thanksgiving Day. The inclusion of Hanukkah as a variable will only contribute to the purchasing mass of the holiday.

#3: Carrying Hanukkah goods is good PR.

Hobby Lobby caused a stir earlier this year when a Jewish blogger walked into one of the company’s many stores and, upon finding no Hanukkah goods, was told by an employee “We don’t cater to you people.”

For the record, “you people” is never a good term to use directly in reference to your consumers, regardless of their group.

When asked about the lack of products surrounding the holiday, Hobby Lobby told the press that the store was doing so because owner Steve Green had “Christian values.” Now, after a prolonged period of criticism, the store has put out the following statement:

“Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. is currently working with our buyers over our merchandise selection. Our customers have brought this to our attention and we are currently evaluating our Holiday items and what we will carry in the future.”

Avoid the fate of Hobby Lobby. Put Hanukkah goods on the shelves.

#4: The Kosher market is a slam dunk.

Kosher food is a market that is almost entirely made up of Jewish consumers and retailers. It is a perfect indication of market potential from the worldwide Jewish population. That market is much, much bigger than you might expect. The Kosher market alone is worth $12.5 billion, and it grows at a rate of 15 percent annually!

Hanukkah is a time for celebration and feasting, so retailers can cash in on the big picture of the holiday no problem. Even if you don’t want to convert part of your business into a kosher kitchen, adding kosher chocolates to the mix would be a positive gesture toward the market that could reap excellent benefits.

#5: Hanukkah is a holiday standby.

Hanukkah has been around as a strong retail holiday for quite a while and is here to stay. Articles from several years back tout the rise of Hanukkah merchandise of all kinds, and Jews have been celebrating strongly in countries such as the US since shortly after World War II. Hanukkah has only grown over the last seventy years, making it a good bet as a year-over-year shopping event. Implementing a consumer strategy for Hanukkah benefits retailers not only for Hanukkah 2013 but for future Hanukkahs by collecting data and showing what will or will not work when selling to Jewish consumers and the people who purchase for them.

Happy Hanukkah! May the Festival of Lights shower your business with profit.

About the author

Aneesh Reddy is the Co-Founder and CEO of Capillary Technologies. A visionary who believes that advances in technology can lead to significant advances in business value and ROI, Aneesh leads the Capillary team and works with enterprise customers to help them put the right communications for the right products into the hands of the right customers at the right time. He is the winner of the Under30CEO award, Forbes’ 12 Hidden Gems and a number of other high tech industry recognitions.

About Capillary Technologies

Capillary offers an Intelligent Customer Engagement platform to retailers and consumer businesses - managing the entire life cycle of customer data from acquisition, analysis, insights and activations. We are the world's leading SaaS (News - Alert) provider of end-to-end Multi-Channel Customer Engagement, Big Data Customer Intelligence, Clienteling, Real-time Loyalty and Social CRM solutions to 150+ enterprise customers - with over 10,000 locations and 75 Million shoppers who interact with our cloud platform. Marquee customers like Marks & Spencer, Pizza Hut, Puma, Benetton, KFC and Courts, have realized as much as a 4-6X ROI from customer engagement across every major channel, including in-store, mobile, online, e-mail, and social by leveraging Capillary’s solution.

Present across North America, EMEA, Asia-Pacific, we are the youngest company to win at Marketing Magazine's CRM & Loyalty Agency of the Year Awards 2013. The company has also been named: a Gartner (News - Alert) 2013 Cool Vendor, among Harvard Business Review's Pioneers of Reverse Innovation and to Mint WSJ Bloomberg Businessweek’s Hottest Technology Businesses 2013. Capillary is financed by Sequoia Capital, Norwest Venture Partners and Qualcomm (News - Alert) Ventures. Visit www.capillarytech.com for more details.