Shoppers disappoint retailers this holiday season

[No Elephants]

Dec 26, 2:01 AM EST

Shoppers disappoint retailers this holiday season

By DANIEL WAGNER
AP Business Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) -- <snip>

Sales of electronics, clothing, jewelry and home goods in the two months before Christmas increased 0.7 percent compared with last year, according to the MasterCard Advisors SpendingPulse report.

That was below the healthy 3 to 4 percent growth that analysts had expected - and it was the worst year-over-year performance since 2008, when spending shrank sharply during the Great Recession. In 2011, retail sales climbed 4 to 5 percent during November and December, according to ShopperTrak.

This year's shopping season was marred by bad weather and rising uncertainty about the economy in the face of possible tax hikes and spending cuts early next year. Some analysts say the massacre of schoolchildren in Newtown, Conn., earlier this month may also have chipped away at shoppers' enthusiasm.

Retailers still have time to make up lost ground. The final week of December accounts for about 15 percent of the month's sales, said Michael McNamara, vice president for research and analysis at MasterCard Advisors SpendingPulse.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_HOLIDAY_SHOPPING?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2012-12-26-02-01-37



Outrageous retail prices disappoint me every year.

The 1% are disappointed because their increase over last year was less than they expected.

They take our wealth, bust our unions, eliminate U.S. jobs, drive down U.S. wages, and then complain that their sales are not increasing as much as they'd hoped. Duh.

Now, they'll stock less in 2013 than they did this year, meaning that, even if demand goes up, it won't help them.

Someone better warn the manufacturers in all the countries where the job creators shipped our manufacturing jobs that they, too, may do less well next year because there may be less demand from the U.S.




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