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To: Ish who wrote (21118)	12/22/2003 10:28:17 PM
From: LindyBill	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793841

Wal-Mart says holiday sales at low end By Neil Buckley in New York Published: December 22 2003 19:19 \| Last Updated: December 22 2003 23:48 Wal-Mart warned on Monday that sales were still tracking at the low end of its target range for December, in the latest sign that holiday retail sales in the US could be lacklustre. Forecasters and retailers had been looking for a sharp rebound in sales from last Christmas, when, by some measures, sales growth was the slowest for 30 years. The National Retail Federation, the industry lobby group, forecast total holiday sales would increase 5.7 per cent, year on year - the strongest increase since 1999 - compared with only a 2.2 per cent gain last year. It said on Monday it was sticking to its forecast. But Wal-Mart, the world's biggest retailer, which accounts for about 8 per cent of non-automotive retail sales in the US, warned for the second week running that sales from stores open at least a year were still towards the low end of its 3-5 per cent projected range. As in the previous week, it said fewer people visited its stores than in the same week last year, although average purchase sizes were up. The strongest categories included pharmacy goods, electronics, girls' clothing, and outerwear. The group's sales update covered the period up to last Friday, and Wal-Mart signalled that sales had improved over the latest weekend but it said sales were still "not up to our original plan". However, other figures were more upbeat. ShopperTrak, which collects data from 30,000 retail outlets, estimated total retail sales last Saturday were up 4.9 per cent over the same Saturday a year before, to $7.3bn. That made it the busiest day of the year so far, ahead of "Black Friday", the day after Thanksgiving, on $7.2bn. Michael Niemira, lead consultant for ShopperTrak, said Wal-Mart was not benefiting from the biggest trend this season - an increase in spending by the most affluent consumers. "So often we think of Wal-Mart as a bellwether but they are not this holiday season because the driver for strength has been upscale spending." Mr Niemira said he did not expect the raising of the US terror alert level to orange to affect sales this week. "I believe we as consumers have got a little bit more accustomed to this. This is not the first time we have seen this happen." The holiday sales season got off to a solid but unspectacular start in the weekend after Thanksgiving, traditionally considered the start of the season. But two consecutive weekends of snow in the north-eastern US hit sales. news.ft.com