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Dec. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Sales at U.S. retailers rose more than forecast in November, a sign consumer spending is gathering speed heading into 2010
Last night on some news show, maybe it was Neil Cavuto's show with Charles Payne sitting in or Laura Ingraham sitting in for O'Reilly, they showed stores slashing prices 50 - 70 percent. So if there are more people shopping because of sales but the slashed prices are really deep so as to minimize profit, is it actually a winning scenario? I'm not seeing it. What's a measure of a winning sales season? Number of shoppers over previous years or profit realized over previous years?
We'll know in January how good this Christmas season was to retailers.
Retailers are feverishly adjusting hours, shipping cost and availability to try and overcome this eastern blizzard-like conditions. Hopefully it hasn't affected the economy too much.
Retailers are feverishly adjusting hours, shipping cost and availability to try and overcome this eastern blizzard-like conditions. Hopefully it hasn't affected the economy too much.
This blizzard will be their "out" come January if they don't get good numbers.
They use weather as the fallback..it's worked in the past.
"Rain kept shoppers away from back to school weekend shopping" type of excuses.
I'm in Texas. We didn't get any blizzard and I was shopping Saturday.
I actually forgot it was the last weekend before Christmas but you'd never know it as it seemed to be just regular weekend type crowds.
I remember years ago..it was horrible going out. The crowds, the lack of parking, and nothing was on sale til AFTER Christmas.
Last night on some news show, maybe it was Neil Cavuto's show with Charles Payne sitting in or Laura Ingraham sitting in for O'Reilly, they showed stores slashing prices 50 - 70 percent. So if there are more people shopping because of sales but the slashed prices are really deep so as to minimize profit, is it actually a winning scenario? I'm not seeing it. What's a measure of a winning sales season? Number of shoppers over previous years or profit realized over previous years?
The stores will do whatever they need to do. I remember 70% discounts last year too and the malls were still empty. For once, I SHOPPED. Some stores stock more than they can sell, so they reduce prices to get rid of it. Why should that be a bad thing? That's beyond me, but the folks at FOX are masters of finding a negative angles to EVERYTHING.
Actually in the past years, the best shopping day is not thanksgiving, but the day after new year. That's when you'll see some REALLY good deals
This blizzard will be their "out" come January if they don't get good numbers.
They use weather as the fallback..it's worked in the past.
"Rain kept shoppers away from back to school weekend shopping" type of excuses.
I'm in Texas. We didn't get any blizzard and I was shopping Saturday.
I actually forgot it was the last weekend before Christmas but you'd never know it as it seemed to be just regular weekend type crowds.
I remember years ago..it was horrible going out. The crowds, the lack of parking, and nothing was on sale til AFTER Christmas.
Boy have times changed.
I don't see how the blizzard in the northeast can be considered an "excuse." The blizzard hit right smack dab in the middle of one of the busiest shopping weekends of the year... now, consumers have less time to shop which means less time to shop and less time to spend. Considering that 1/5 of the nation's population resides in the northeast corridor, this will have an impact on retail sales.
Nonetheless, I still anticipate that holiday retail sales will be up from 2008. Nowhere near 2007 levels, but an improvement nonetheless.
HappyTexan, I'm surprised that it was so quiet for you shopping last weekend. I was at the mall last weekend and the "nightmare" scenario you presented is exactly what I found... crowds, no parking spaces, etc...
HappyTexan, I'm surprised that it was so quiet for you shopping last weekend. I was at the mall last weekend and the "nightmare" scenario you presented is exactly what I found... crowds, no parking spaces, etc...
I saw the parking lots and thanked God I didn't have to go in.
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