The News Review:
- Holiday sales growth may be slim in Colorado
- Stores hope sales will attract holiday shoppers
- Ready, set, shop ‘” or not
- Gap’s Third-Quarter Profit Rises on Fewer Markdowns (Update1)
Holiday sales growth may be slim in Colorado
Examiner.com
“I think the watch word of the day is going to be value,” Colorado Retail Council President Christopher Howes said. “The good news is shoppers are going to be presented with lots of value-priced goods, lots of discounts, lots of advertising and marketing aggressively trying to get shoppers into the mall and purchasing. “In September, the National Retail Federation said it expected 2. 2 percent sales growth nationwide this holiday season, far below the 10-year average of 4. In light of nationwide financial woes, the Colorado Retail Council says, it expects 1 to 2 percent growth in Colorado. This story continues below
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While discounters should do well this holiday season, higher-end boutiques may have a tougher time, Howes said.
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Stores hope sales will attract holiday shoppers
Louisville Courier-Journal, KY
A survey from the trade group said people are worried about fees and expiration dates, and are looking to stretch their dollars by focusing on sale items. A smaller concern: You’ll buy a gift card before Christmas, and the store will go out of business before the recipient redeems it. At Jefferson Mall on Outer Loop, marketing director Dawn Nelms said gift card sales decreased slightly four years ago when the mall changed from paper certificates to plastic cards that carry a $2 fee. Nelms said she’s hoping gift card sales simply remain flat this year. Overall, there is little consensus about what will happen to retailers after the holiday season gets fully under way. The Consumer Price Index declined in October by the largest monthly amount in six decades, a sign that holiday shoppers might save at the cash register as stores discount merchandise. But the index, a broad measure of inflation, was still up 3.
Ready, set, shop ‘” or not
Buffalo News, United States
comp –>Retailers traditionally look forward to Black Friday as the day they finally begin to turn a profit. But this year, the kickoff to the holiday shopping season holds no guarantees. Across the nation, October retail sales took an unprecedented 5 percent drop from the previous year. Now retailers are wondering, and worrying, how December sales will end up. Frightened consumers are cutting back in the face of climbing unemployment, looming foreclosures and the specter of a failing auto industry. Consumer confidence is down 23 percent in Buffalo from last year, according to Siena Research Institute. “There’s this fear that even if [the recession] hasn’t hit me yet, it’s coming,” said Arun Jain, professor of marketing at the University at Buffalo School of Management.
Gap’s Third-Quarter Profit Rises on Fewer Markdowns (Update1)
Bloomberg
This strategy has helped cushion threeyears of sales declines, and may be needed heading into theholiday season as consumers facing the worst financial crisissince the Great Depression pare spending. ?This will be by far the worst markdown season we haveseen in recent history,? Thomas Filandro, analyst atSusquehanna Financial Group in New York, said today in aBloomberg Television interview. ?The focus here has to be onmaintaining healthy gross margins in an environment in which weall know the consumer is pulling back. ? He recommends buyingGap shares. Gap fell 58 cents, or 5.