The Day After Christmas, Shoppers Take a Holiday
Many retailers hoping for a big finish to the holiday season instead had lighter-than-expected crowds over the long Christmas weekend, according to anecdotal reports, leaving stores to rely heavily on the next few days to pump up December sales.
Explanations for the lackluster finish varied: an unusually warm winter hurt cold-weather clothing sales, greater gift card use delayed purchases and higher energy costs discouraged splurges.
C. Britt Beemer, chairman of America's Research Group, dispatched researchers to stores in five cities yesterday - Boston, Los Angeles, Denver, Dallas and Orlando, Fla. - where they found relatively few shoppers, considering that it was a federal holiday.
"All of us thought that these stores would be packed early and often but it never materialized," he said.
And the new savior is:
Millions of unspent gift cards could prove to be another boon to retailers, and stores rushed out new merchandise yesterday to entice those shoppers, because most retailers do not count the money on the cards as sales until it is spent.
"Redemption days are going to be very important this year," said Michael P. Niemira, head economist at the International Council of Shopping Centers, who described the season so far as "O.K."
nytimes.com |
