Good Start for Sales Season

[NewToCA]

Originally Posted by TnHilltopper

Thankfully this holiday season got off to a good start

Poll: 67% cutting back on holiday spending

I look at the actual numbers, not the sentiment. So far, after a strong start the day after Thanksgiving, it appears to be a mixed bag:

After a dismal start to the holiday shopping season, Web surfers have picked up their spending since Thanksgiving, ComScore reported this afternoon. The research firm said that from Dec. 1, the day known as Cyber Monday, through Friday, online spending reached $3.74 billion, a 9% gain over the same period last year.

The relatively strong week helped push this holiday season's e-commerce sales, which had declined for the first time ever, back to the same level as last year. From Nov. 1 through Dec. 5, online shoppers spent $14.92 billion, which was essentially flat compared with the year-ago $14.90 billion.


Holiday online shopping finally back to 2007 levels | Technology | Los Angeles Times

http://www.comscore.com/press/release.asp?press=2614

[TnHilltopper]

Having spent this past weekend in the big city visiting malls with the lil misses, she made note that the malls had no real sales. Not to mention they were fairly sparse. This may be due to more people shopping online as I did, because I noticed that there seemed far more deals online than in the stores. I could have tossed a few frisbee's and not hit anyone at the Knoxville mall this past weekend.

[NewToCA]

Originally Posted by TnHilltopper

Having spent this past weekend in the big city visiting malls with the lil misses, she made note that the malls had no real sales. Not to mention they were fairly sparse. This may be due to more people shopping online as I did, because I noticed that there seemed far more deals online than in the stores. I could have tossed a few frisbee's and not hit anyone at the Knoxville mall this past weekend.

That is part of the reason I tend to be skeptical of sentiment articles.

I read a study a couple of years ago about spending perceptions, and many folks underestimated their expenditures on line as compared to actually going into stores.

Also, shopping is really local. Out here in NorCal, the couple malls I've been to the past couple of weeks are absolutely packed.

However, I have noticed Sears seems really empty. I have a feeling Sears/KMart may be near the end.