Retail sales post big drop in November

[babylonsister]

Retail sales post big drop in November


NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. retail sales excluding autos posted their biggest monthly drop in five years November, as consumers, spooked by a deepening recession, pared spending for a third straight month, a private report released on Thursday showed.

The decline accelerated in November despite a sales spurt over the crucial "Black Friday" weekend -- the three days after the Thanksgiving holiday in late November -- according to SpendingPulse, the retail data service of MasterCard Advisors, a subsidiary of MasterCard Inc.

Consumer spending excluding autos fell 3.8 percent last month on a seasonally adjusted basis, steeper than the 1.5 percent decline in October, SpendingPulse said.

The November figure was the largest one-month drop in SpendingPulse history, which began in 2003, surpassing the prior record fall of 2.4 percent set two months ago.

The report was the latest evidence that U.S. retailers are facing one of the worst holiday retail seasons in recent memory. The year-end shopping period accounts for the bulk of the annual business of many retailers.

more...

http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE4BA0W820081211

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

1. I doubt many midsize retailers are going to survive the next six months.

This is going to be a bloodbath.

[screembloodymurder]

3. In my area they're still building new shopping centers.

We have retailers dropping like flies, empty space that can't be filled, half-finished developments are being scrapped and yet the developers want to build more malls. WTF is wrong with this country.

[Stuart G]

2. Deflation is here...now. It is not really a good thing. I believe.

Decreased profits, less cash for companies, less hiring, more firing, no expansion, etc..not good.

[eowyn_of_rohan]

4. I went Christmas shopping for the first time yesterday - JC Penney

They were having a "Door Buster" sale, and prices were really slashed on many nice things... Yet the store was so quiet, and so few people were shopping. I was browsing around one department and I was the only one there most of the time. Then I went to Shopko for poinsettias. Rack after rack of women's clothing on deep sale... 50%, 80%! NOBODY was shopping in that department. It was eerie.

[BR_Parkway]

5. You know, when stores were/are small and local, they depend on

sales to carry them through the entire year versus behemoths that operate on so much credit that they can only make a profit the last few weeks of an entire year. How has anyone thought that to be a sustainable business model for so long is beyond me.

And for those who say that businesses need to run on credit, no they don't. We own a wine shop - and in this state, you must pay for everything you order from the distributors when it's delivered - the guy stands there and waits while you write him a check. Since the affiliated products we carry know this, they also understand that they don't have to offer credit to us to entice our business, so they don't.

I have to wonder what the retailing world would look like now if it hadn't gotten so hooked on credit.