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New York, NY—Although fine jewelry as a whole—and luxury jewelry in particular—turned in a strong performance for holiday, the general retail picture was not as merry, and merchants left the season with a few hard lessons learned.

It’s no secret that Black Friday is becoming less important as a turning point in the season, but in 2013 retailers learned that opening on Thanksgiving Day doesn’t boost traffic, it just redistributes it. Spreading out Black Friday crowds over more hours added more operating costs, but no more feet in the door.

A recent article in Time magazine highlighted some of the key trends of the season. An excerpt:

• Seasons keep getting longer: consumers are now used to seeing Halloween merchandise in August, the first Christmas decorations in stores by October, and Valentine’s Day candy out even before holiday candy is cleared away.
• There was no must-have toy this year. Kids want electronics instead.
• Shop ahead for electronics. According to Time, prices for hot gizmos actually were lower in early November than on Black Friday, Cyber Monday, or later.
• Price matching is a boon for retailers. There are so many exceptions and/or extra steps that consumers have to take to get the match that most don’t bother. As a result, retailers benefit from the perception without necessarily having to deliver the reality.
• Deal me in! Consumers have been so well trained to expect a discount or a deal that very few will buy at full price. What’s more, a mere 40% isn’t enough to wow them anymore: now they’ll wait for 70% off.
• Couch potatoes. Foot traffic is down and cyber shopping is up. ComScore reported an overall 10% increase in online shopping for the 2013 holiday season vs. 2012 figures. But if consumers learned one thing this year, it’s not to wait till the last minute to order. Poor weather and shipping overload caused more than a few disappointed faces Christmas morning.
• Boomerang! Return rates for online shopping are very high—as many as one-third of items bought online come back.
• 60% of consumers ask for gift cards to choose their own items, but many still go unspent or end up with an annoyingly small amount left on the card after the desired item is purchased—which, as Time says, is there for all retail eternity. But the International Council of Shopping Centers says gift cards helped pull an otherwise lackluster season up. According to The ICSC-Goldman Sachs consumer tracking survey found that the consumers’ average share of total holiday spending that was in the form of a gift card rose to a record 23.7% in 2013.

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