Christmas Eve sales slower than predicted in U.S
Sat Dec 24, 2005 3:35 PM ET
today.reuters.com
Walked through downtown PDX today at noon, into Nordstroms, Pioneer Plaza (Coach, Saks, etc), and it looked no more busy than a weekend in September, surprisely quiet, and not that many full bags. Think the big story developing going forward is a real consumer retrenchment. Even Bully will balk at more $358 bags from Coach.
But apparently it's bullish somehow, cause there's always "after Christmas", what a Ministry of Truth rectification farce.
orwelltoday.com
December 24, 2005
Retailers Try, Try Again After Slow Season
By MICHAEL BARBARO
Get ready for the Christmas shopping frenzy all over again.
Many retailers, fearing that today's last-minute buying spree will fail to make up for ho-hum sales growth this season, are looking past the holiday weekend and planning an aggressive Monday marketing blitz.
Wal-Mart plans to push video games, DVD's and computer software up to the front of the store. Coach is to introduce a new set of jewel-studded handbags. And Abercrombie & Fitch is to preview its spring clothing line, even though it is still frigid across much of the country.
The after-Christmas push, originally intended to lure holders of gift cards into stores, may turn into more of a salvage effort. In addition to lackluster sales gains, retailers endured a transit strike in New York City that damped business at crucial flagship stores, turning the postholiday period into one of the most important in years.
The month after Christmas "can no longer be written off," said Marshall Cohen, chief analyst at the NPD Group, a market research firm.
Consumers have left retailers flummoxed this holiday. A longer shopping season between Thanksgiving and Christmas and a late Hanukkah encouraged procrastination, but the final days of the season have not lived up to retailers' expectations.
"Really thin" was how a Deutsche Bank analyst, Gabrielle Kivitz, described the crowds yesterday at Garden State Plaza in Paramus, N.J., where 40 and 50 percent off signs were visible at Aéropostale and Express.
Another worry was the New York transit strike, which could slice 1 or 2 percent points off December sales for Federated, the nation's largest department store chain, and 3 percent for Saks Fifth Avenue, whose Manhattan store accounts for more than a tenth of its annual revenue, according to A. G. Edwards.
"We lost some business," said Michael Gould, chairman of Bloomingdale's, a Federated division with two stores in Manhattan.
Retailers said the introduction of new merchandise on Monday is aimed squarely at gift card holders, whose ranks are expected to soar this year. Consumers will spend an estimated $18.48 billion on gift cards this season, up 7 percent over last year, according to BigResearch, which advises retailers.
In the past, retailers used clearance sales to drum up excitement after Christmas, piling leftover sweaters and stereos high across their stores. But now there are likely to be fewer after-Christmas discounts: gift card holders are spending somebody else's money and, as a result, they are less worried about price if they fall in love with a new product.
"They want newness, and we have to give it to them," said Tom Lennox, director of investor relations at Abercrombie & Fitch, which is rushing women's tank tops and men's polo shirts onto shelves in preparation for the day after Christmas.
Over the last several years, Abercrombie has observed what Mr. Lennox called "a dramatic buildup in business" in the week after Christmas, which encourages executives to broaden the store's post-Christmas merchandise plan.
Wal-Mart said it would rearrange its stores to promote entertainment - hoping consumers will splurge on new music, movies and games for all the gadgets they received this holiday. "It will be clear that this is not the same old stuff they saw before," said a spokeswoman, Gail Lavielle.
Mr. Gould, Bloomingdale's chairman, said the company would introduce "a tremendous amount of new fashion" during the next week, explaining that "we have an awful lot of customers with a Bloomingdale's gift card." |
