Nation’s retailers report disappointing sales

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16466956/

An already disappointing holiday shopping season turned out to be even worse than expected for many of the nation’s retailers, who on Thursday reported tepid sales gains for December.

The downbeat results came from retailers in all categories, from Limited Brands Inc. to jewelry chain Zale Corp. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. posted better-than-expected results for December following a dismal November.

Ken Perkins, president of RetailMetrics LLC, a research company in Swampscott, Mass., said retailers were forced to mark down heavily to bring in sales.

“Clearly, this was a promotional Christmas,” he said. “Consumers clearly waited until the last minute.”

Such aggressive discounting led a number of merchants including Zale, Gap Inc. and AnnTaylor Stores Corp. to cut their profit outlooks.

[spinbaby]

1. Hey, it's not all bad

Luxury yachts are selling like hotcakes.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070103/us_nm/boatshow_dc

[The Anti-Neo Con]

22. True, luxury retailers are definitely not hurting.

I'm sure retailers like Cartier, Burberry, and Louis Vuitton had vigorous sales over the holidays.

[Kagemusha]

2. Okay, so much for all the cheering at Wal-Mart's misfortune.

Which I distinctly remember at the time. (And not like I blame anyone for it, it's just that reality made that cheering look premature apparently..)

[Viva_La_Revolution]

3. I wonder what these 'gains' would be if indexed for inflation...

hmmmm?

[OrangeCountyDemocrat]

4. Bad News I Guess....

I suppose the stock market will only be up 80 points instead of 100 today.

I'm sure if you tune to CNBC you'll get ONLY the silver lining of this report. There must be something in the data they can point to for optimism on the All Positive, All Upbeat, All The Time Network.

[no_hypocrisy]

5. Well, that's what you get when you give tax cuts to only 1 percent

of the population, make families work 2-3 jobs in order to keep their homes that are financed by usury rates for a mortgage or two, when you prevent bankruptcy when credit cards are maxed BEFORE Christmas, etc. Where do you think the disposable cash is supposed to come from?

[fasttense]

6. Take it from an expert procrastinator.

If you wait until Christmas Eve to do most of your shopping you'll save a bundle. Everything is marked down on Christmas Eve. And the crowds are negligible.

[sofa king]

7. Wait a minute. That's not what they were saying in October.

I distinctly remember news reports from October saying that retail sales were up and the economy was doing great. I know that's before the holiday season, but....

Were they lying? Why?

[Atman]

13. Of course they were lying

All you had to do was listen to the news reports closely, with a critical ear. The reporters were in the malls saying how busy and frantic the shopping was, but when they never gave any actual numbers or same-store numbers to compare, that should have been a big red flag that things were actually pretty bad. If sales had been up, they stores would have been crowing about it big-time. I saw one news story which purported to show strong sales by talking about how much a particular retail segment expected to take in this year, without mentioning if that number was higher or lower than last year...another red flag that you're being lied to. Finally, all one had to do was go to a mall. Supposedly, the malls were going to be the big hits this year, as people began to shun big-boxes and malls switched their marketing gears. But in the two trips I had to make to the mall this Christmas, in the final week before when it is suppposed to be the worst, the two malls near me were ghost towns. No traffic, parking right near the doors. The overflow lots our mall constructed last year weren't even utilized this year.

Anyway, the pre-holiday hype is exactly that...hype. Retail is very psychological. If people THINK everybody esle is out shopping, it tend to foster the notion that things are okay, and you might as well shop, too. But if they report gloom and doom, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy as people hold onto their money expecting this gloom and doom. So they lie like crazy up front in order to try to set a positive happy shopping mood. But mood don't pay the VISA bills, and the real people who buy things haven't got a raise or a tax cut, just higher bills for everything (except cheap Chinese-made electronics).

[azurnoir]

8. This year it almost a grudge match

between consumers and retailers. We did all our shopping ob Dec 23 and nothing was on sale, not even things like x-mas decorations which in past years had gone 1/2 price from Dec 10 or so on.

[Theres-a]

10. Yesterday

I was at hallmark,and xmas decorations were only 40% off.There was nary a bargain in our local minimall.

[Sequoia]

28. Ours is 75% and I want that Hermie and Rudolph ornament.

I hope it's still there!

[kineneb]

17. gee, not here

I was in Woodland,CA, on the 22nd; both Penneys and Mervyns had big markdowns. I got a pair of "holiday" print jammie bottoms marked down 60%...only cost me $8.00 after sales tax. And there were not that many shoppers for so close to Christmas.

[bedazzled]

25. i noticed that, too!

picked up some things at walgreen's the week before, and
was surprised that they weren't on sale.

[Tempest]

9. Even credit card sales were down from last year

Everyone is maxed out and that doesn't bode well for the economy in 2007, and beyond.

[Mizmoon]

11. I live in a high shopping area

near a flea market and mall that are mobbed around Xmas. The traffic usually gets horrendous in December. This year we hardly noticed any difference. No one was really around.

In fact I went to Target the Saturday before Xmas expecting a mob and it was empty. Odd. I guess otehr people felt as we do - what the hell else do we need? We've got everything we could reasonably want. Everything else is just consumer excess.

[Skittles]

16. that's not it at all

people will always be greedy, buying crap they don't need, if they CAN. My bet is fewer people are able to avoid buing crap becasue they must spend the money they have on things they NEED.

[Mizmoon]

18. since when did not having cash

stop an American consumer? ;)

[Skittles]

19. that's the sign the economy is truly is bad

when people are past their limits...because that's the only way the majority stop spending

[SoCalDem]

21. Around here, they had to send TRUCKS to haul away the unsold trees

There are three rather large lots every year for trees, and this year every time i went past them it seems as if most of the trees were still there..day after day after day..

Either lots of people have gone to artificial, or like us, have gotten off the Xmas train altogether :)

[Sequoia]

27. Watching the news about recycling your tree I noticed they were new

trees and not used ones at all. You could still see the uplifted branches from being tied up as they were thrown in the hopper.

[Tempest]

12. Here's a good analysis

http://bigpicture.typepad.com/comments/2006/12/holiday_sales_f.html

[jwirr]

14. Business often votes pug. They need to learn that when the people

are broke no one can buy their products. When they follow the large corporations they are signing their own death warrants.

[RoBear]

15. Pardon me while I

hehehe...

[blues90]

20. I hope this is a trend that won't die

I hope for the day people who have money finally realize they don't need every new gadget and of course it goes without saying people who have no extra cash can't go shopping .

This is one way to battle these box store corps from hell as they continue to outsource our jobs and all the manufacturing from this country . it is also a way to tell the major american auto companies we don't want expensive junk that they have been building for years now .

I hope all these box super stores faulter and fall .

[Acadia Blue]

23. Gee, I wonder why. The rich got much richer and the rest either

fell behind or stayed the same, and the future really looks like its going to suck big time.

[Deja Q]

24. And some sources indicate much higher online sales...

And online stores sell for much lower prices than retailers.

A pity as for some items I will never order online (e.g. LCD monitors...)

[4dsc]

26. I'm still looking for these STEEP DISCOUNTS!!

and I don't mean in the left over christmas wrap isle of my favorite Target store. I think its just pure BS that any retailer is "aggessively discounting" the GOOD STUFF!! Most discounts are for the left over JUNK!!

[progressivebydesign]

29. You mean America is finally wising up???

Are they realizing that shopping indiscrimanately does nothing positive for your family? Do you think we're figuring out that the onslaught of mindless SHOP SHOP SHOP commercials this holiday season are NOT going to make anyone's lives happier? Do you think we've figured out that the REAL war on Christmas is by the corporate retailers who have turned the holidy into a meaningless shopping spree?

Or do ya think people just don't have as much money?