as the article states, 'Deep discounts on everything from sweaters to TVs drove
shoppers out of hibernation . . . The sales receipts, however, came at the expense
of profits, and merchants are facing a big challenge exciting financially strapped
shoppers for the rest of the season that's expected to be the weakest in decades.
. . . People were buying but they bought cheap, and the results were not as good."
This year, in a desperate bid to pull in shoppers, stores were even more aggressive
offering discounts of up to 70 percent in the days leading to the weekend, and widening
those price cuts for a broader array of merchandise for the early morning deals.'
it's expected 6,000+ retailers will be out of business by the end of the year and a
further 14,000+ in 09 and with mall vacancy rates rising from the high teens to 20s
given that retailers from high to low have been told 'cod or no delivery of goods' it's
not surprising there has been an increase in sales thanks to very large discounts
however retailers have to do the same for xmas and any new year sales and
considering there are retailers that expect to make 40% of the annual profits at
this time of year, the perspective is that yoy results will be down
the new year begins that period of lowest consumer spending including house and
auto sales, a period that continues until late spring
09 will be a devastating year for retailers as well as the knock-on for manufacturers
and distributors and additional unemployment
friday will see the release of the nov non farm figures estimated to be at least 300K
and look for revisions to the oct figures, if the market doesn't begin to drop on fri look
for it to do so next week