Consumer Uncertainty About To Diminish. Shopping Activity Is About To Increase.

Good news this week (written May 15, 2025) will lead to decreased uncertainty, increased consumer sentiment, and noticeably more shopping activity in your stores heading into Memorial Day and beyond. The past few months have been challenging, and this breath of fresh air comes at just the right time. If you've paused your advertising, you risk missing this positive trend-so get it started right away. This is one of those key moments to optimize both your messaging and your overall media plan. Schedule a call with us to review, and we'll help identify ways for you to take full advantage of what's unfolding in your marketplace.

Your advertising is working. While some retailers are having a solid year, many are seeing OK weeks, a few good ones, mixed in with some tough ones. The overall challenge isn't your advertising-it's the reduced number of shoppers in the market. But that's about to change.

There Have Been Increasingly Fewer Shoppers This Year.

The chart below shows that Google search activity across the country dropped by 18.8% from January through April. On January 4, the peak hit 8,241. On April 26, it was down to 6,715. That's an 18.8% decrease. Weekend peaks also flattened in April compared to January. Consumer uncertainty grew through the first quarter and into April, continuing into early May. Uncertainty is bad for everyone-it leads to less shopping.

From January 1 to April 27, 2025 online activity declined by 18.8%, and weekend highs flattened relative to mid-week lows.

And this makes sense. Even if we don't fully understand how tariffs actually work or impact our wallets, we tend to believe they're bad. Wall Street certainly responded that way to this year's tariff talk. Stocks tanked-many lost 30% to 50% of their value between January and April. News organizations only amplified the anxiety by combining complex macroeconomic issues into a steady stream of fear and confusion. As a result, many consumers hit pause on major purchases and took a wait-and-see approach.

But this week, the news changed.

Tariff agreements have been made, and more are on the way. Things are starting to feel more reasonable-and maybe not as bad as they seemed. Wall Street agrees. Big institutional and professional investors responded quickly and decisively, generating historic gains strong enough to erase much of the year-to-date losses. Positive news is circulating again. The world isn't ending.

In response, consumer confidence will grow. Online shopping activity will increase, and in-store home furnishings buying will follow. We're already seeing it begin-and we expect it to continue for the next 90 days and beyond. Now is a smart time to revisit your advertising plans.

Refocus Your Advertising To Reach In-Market Shoppers.

Building brand awareness with your ideal audience is always important. But now's the time to adjust your plan to meet shoppers as they re-enter the market. Take advantage of this shift. Here are some smart steps you can take:

• Review the ad tactics in your plan. Some tactics support multiple strategies. Adjust spends to those that can target shoppers who are lower in the funnel.
• Ensure ad content highlights clear, easy-to-understand offers and incentives, and feature financing options. Show a range of product examples representative of what a customer can find on your showroom floor.
• Post regularly on social media using real photos from your store, with compelling copy and honest pricing. Turn those posts into paid ads so they reach actual shoppers.
• Ask your staff to like and share social posts at least once per week.
• Create a landing page where all your ads point. Use it to share more info about your offers, incentives, and featured items-plus a genuine message from you to your customers.
• Host a midweek "preferred customer" event. Use personal outreach-calls and emails-to invite customers for scheduled shopping appointments with perceived extra savings when they book in advance.
• Your ads are gaining more share of voice in the market right now because many competitors are slowing down their spending at the perfectly wrong moment. Increase your frequency and focus to take full advantage.

Momentum is shifting quickly-go get it while it's happening. Now is the time to refocus on shoppers and meet them with a strategy built for this exact moment.

I'd love to explore ways to make your advertising work harder for you during this transitional moment in time. Text, call, or email me anytime at 610-724-3942 or terry@tangomm.com.

Let's go get it,
Terry Fetterman