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marmar

(76,976 posts)
Tue Dec 1, 2015, 11:01 AM Dec 2015

There Better Be a Miracle for Retailers

There Better Be a Miracle for Retailers
by Wolf Richter • November 30, 2015


They tried to spin it in the most favorable light, and even then it was ugly.

It’s early in the shopping season, and Americans might still come out and head to the mall in massive numbers and do their patriotic duty and buy things that ideally no one needs made in countries they don’t know with money they don’t have to prop up manufactures, middlemen, transportation companies, oil companies, the entire supply chain, and finally US retailers that have hired hundreds of thousands of part-timers just for this sacred period of the year.

The hope is that these consumers will get their act together to relieve the enormous pressures that have built up behind the scenes: ballooning inventories. But it doesn’t look like it.

After months of crummy retail sales across the nation, followed up by earnings warnings and lousy results from big retailers, the first numbers are in for the Thanksgiving Weekend. And they support ugly anecdotal evidence of less crowded malls and parking lots: Brick-and-mortar retailers are having a hard time.

The results of the National Retail Federation’s Thanksgiving Weekend Survey were painfully – some might say willfully – murky: It said nearly 102 million people shopped in stores over the Thanksgiving weekend, while over 103 million shopped online, including via mobile devices. Given the overlap, over 151 million people did at least some shopping over the weekend. That’s 47% of the entire US population of 319 million. This would be a good sign, at least the surge in online shopping would be. But average spending over the weekend was a measly $299.60 per person.

.....(snip).....

But Bloomberg compared the numbers that were “not comparable” and found that the average spent per person over the weekend had been $380.95 in 2014 and $407.02 in 2013. So this year’s sales would represent a 26% and 27% plunge! .............(more)

http://wolfstreet.com/2015/11/30/there-better-be-a-miracle-for-retailers/




6 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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There Better Be a Miracle for Retailers (Original Post) marmar Dec 2015 OP
Shopping with what? Proserpina Dec 2015 #1
We do most of our shopping online now. femmocrat Dec 2015 #2
My wife and I have a limit of $200 each this year OnlinePoker Dec 2015 #3
In my family we draw names and everybody buys ONE gift for the name they drew. Binkie The Clown Dec 2015 #4
I just picked up 1 of the 2 gifts I'm giving myself this year magical thyme Dec 2015 #5
People seem to be traveling this year. Hugin Dec 2015 #6
 

Proserpina

(2,352 posts)
1. Shopping with what?
Tue Dec 1, 2015, 11:27 AM
Dec 2015

I am broke and in college. My mom just had to buy new tires and a furnace. Give me a break!

Maybe I'll make pies for Xmas. At least we'll eat.

OnlinePoker

(5,702 posts)
3. My wife and I have a limit of $200 each this year
Tue Dec 1, 2015, 01:30 PM
Dec 2015

I doubt we'll even get that much. There is nothing we really need, and even though we have enough to spend, our want list is pretty low as well.

Binkie The Clown

(7,911 posts)
4. In my family we draw names and everybody buys ONE gift for the name they drew.
Tue Dec 1, 2015, 01:35 PM
Dec 2015

That includes sisters and brothers, aunts and uncles, inlaws, every adult in the extended family. Parents and grandparents, of course, buy an extra gift or three for the children and grandchildren.

 

magical thyme

(14,881 posts)
5. I just picked up 1 of the 2 gifts I'm giving myself this year
Tue Dec 1, 2015, 08:11 PM
Dec 2015

a gorgeous vintage 1935 singer sewing machine from a private owner who has "too many" sewing machines. With it, I'll save 3X its price repairing instead of replacing the fancy curtains that Luna ripped when I first brought him home. And I'll be able to recycle my dog food bags into totes to donate to the animal shelter. And then do various and sundry other repairs/replacements to spiff up my digs that would otherwise cost a bundle.

The 2nd gift will be a handmade in USA drop spindle along with some raised in USA fiber to learn drop spinning on for $20 or so.

Sorry world -- other than the small crafter/farmer and the USPS, you're not in my sights this year

Hugin

(32,769 posts)
6. People seem to be traveling this year.
Wed Dec 2, 2015, 05:46 AM
Dec 2015

By car. To visit relatives. Fuel prices are cheap. Snoozing in a parking lot on the way is free (for now). It's a matter of priorities when discretionary money is limited by the big suck of supporting a vast number of noncontributing CEOs.

Togetherness is the best gift of all. IMHO.

It's terrible for the retailers, though. (I'll cry about this later. )

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