Retailers Nervous As Traffic Is Poor (the last weekend lays an egg!)

[Career Prole]

NEW YORK - A much-hoped for sales bonanza for the nation's retailers appeared not to materialize on the last weekend before Christmas, despite an abundance of deals on toys and apparel.

Merchants needed a hefty sales surge this past weekend to recoup lost business after seeing a slow start to a holiday selling season that never gathered steam. Now, they'll have to rely even more heavily on the final days before Christmas and post-holiday sales to meet their holiday sales forecast.

"We are not getting the kind of lift we need. Traffic and sales were below expectations" on Saturday, said Michael P. Niemira, chief economist at the International Council of Shopping Centers. He serves as an adviser for ShopperTrak, which tallies sales results from 30,000 retail outlets.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=509&ncid=749&e=10&u=/ap/20041220/ap_on_bi_ge/holiday_shopping

"they'll have to rely even more heavily on the final days before Christmas and post-holiday sales to meet their holiday sales forecast"

Boys, you can rely on Valentine's Day to meet your holiday sales forecasts if you want to...it ain't gonna happen!
We are broke and/or too worried about the future of the economy to be pissing money away on non-essentials...capiche?

[Not_Giving_Up]

1. You can't shop if you have no money

I know, I'm living it!

[RPM]

5. yep

its a good thing that all those jobs went offshore, those people are shopping in droves.

Dumbfucks kicked out the legs of a consumer economy.

[LynzM]

6. Second that...

The money we were planning to spend on Christmas had to buy a plane ticket, and *poof*, no stores will see our business for gifts until February, at least...

Pretty soon it's going to start sinking in, I hope, that when jobs that pay well disappear, so does shopping for non-essentials...

[gatorboy]

2. I don't believe it!

LIARS! Bush was just at his economic summit talking about how great the economy is! :shrug:

[Cocoa]

4. they were referring to this part:

Niemira noted that luxury stores — which have enjoyed robust sales as their well-heeled customers have benefited from the economy's recovery — had the best performance.

[Lorien]

10. The spin! The SPIN!

(snip)


What is hurting merchants is that there is no must-have item, except in consumer electronics — iPod music players and the PlayStation2 (news - web sites) video game console, for example, have become difficult to find in many areas, according to Marshal Cohen, senior industry analyst at NPD Group Inc., a market research company based in Port Washington, N.Y.

The Saturday before Christmas is traditionally the busiest day of the year for merchants, though last year, the day after Thanksgiving stole that crown. However, the last weekend before Christmas could be losing its luster as there are more ways to shop for a holiday item.

The increased popularity in gift cards and online spending could be helping to skew the holiday sales figures. Gift cards are only recorded as sales when they are redeemed at the stores. Online sales, which are expected to increase 20 percent to 26 percent this holiday season, are not included in ShopperTrak's sales figure

(snip)


So, luxury stores are booming because of the surging economy, but the rest of us just can't find that "must have" item, so we're all buying gift cards instead. Wouldn't be because we're boycotting or are f*cking broke, now would it??

[Cobalt Violet]

3. Wow !

That's great news. So much for the Bush tax cuts.

[1monster]

7. Dollar Tree in our area is doing really GREAT business this year...

They've just tripled the size of their store and the aisles are still crowded with people out for a bargain.

Everything in the store is one dollar, and some of it is quality stuff that costs more at the regular discount places...

(I spent $50.00 there myself this week.)

edit: typo corrected

[tandot]

8. I am unemployed and every penny goes toward gas and groceries

Here is my message to retailers:

Go f*ck yourself

I don't have any money left to enrich you filthy rich a**holes.

[SoCalDem]

9. Our ad section in the paper was downright skinny.. I had expected it

to be HUGE..but it was not even as big as a normal Sunday paper..I think the local merchants decided not to waste any more money...

I do have to make one more shopping foray.. for cookie boxes..I am giving homemade cookies to some less close pals:)

[Chico Man]

11. We need bigger stores, wider highways, and bigger cars, of course

I avoided the mall area like the plague. I was driving about a mile away and that is where the traffic started. A buch of mad sheep going to feed, a la "Dawn of the Dead".

If the last holiday weekend can cause that much traffic and madness, and it is still a dud, what the hell is wrong? Are the malls even capable of handling a "good" weekend?

How many people didn't go shopping because it was just too crazy out there? Me, for one.

[NashVegas]

12. duplicate - locking

discuss here

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1086511