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Retailers Ring Up Strong Start to Holiday Shopping
Topics:Holiday Central * Consumers
Sectors:Retail
Companies:Sears Holdings Corp * Kohls Corp * JC Penney Company Inc * Wal-Mart Stores Inc * Best Buy Co Inc * Macy's
By CNBC.com With Wires * 25 Nov 2007 * 11:26 AM ET
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The lure of bargains trumped economic concerns at the start of the holiday shopping season
as retailers logged sales that were significantly stronger than a year ago, a customer traffic counter said.

Sales rose 8.3 percent on "Black Friday" -- the first official day of the U.S. holiday shopping season -- compared with the same day a year ago, according to the National Retail Sales Estimate from ShopperTrak.
Amy Sancetta / AP

The company estimated sales Friday totaled $10.3 billion.

Black Friday sales typically account for between 4.5 and 5 percent of all holiday sales, ShopperTrak said.

The sales spike was evidence that customers are willing to spend despite mounting worries about a slumping housing market, a credit crunch and soaring fuel prices. Experts say those concerns still may dampen the season overall.

"Although retailers need to remain cautious, the Black Friday outpouring should have them breathing a sigh of relief, and they will be paying close attention to see if consumers
continue this strong shopping pace throughout the holiday season," said Bill Martin, ShopperTrak's co-founder.

Lines Outside Sears

While shoppers were on the lookout for giveaways and discounts, investors were eager for any signs of consumer strength or weakness.

Judging by the lines outside Sears stores Friday, consumers were especially eager, said John Ford, regional manager at Sears Holdings
Sears Holdings Corp


"It exceeded our expectations. We had more customers at opening yesterday than we had in prior years," Ford said of the number of people waiting outside for the stores to open Friday. "I would tell you it was 50 to 100 percent higher than it was in previous years.":shock:
 
You're fos Topper. The only thing selling was electronics and they slashed the prices so deeply that profit margins are going to take a huge hit.

Yeah, no shit if you sell a 1,000 dollar laptop for 540 dollars, you are going to get some buyers, wow.

Where did you get that mba, a kellog's box?
 
Dhula sales up 8 percent is good no matter
we'll see at ate end if margins are soon bad. I'm fussing the boys at target are smarter than some fat ass size 12 with no business training.
 
Topspin said:
Dhula sales up 8 percent is good no matter
we'll see at ate end if margins are soon bad. I'm fussing the boys at target are smarter than some fat ass size 12 with no business training.
Click to expand...

You're fussing the boys at target??

I hope they are of age? If so, it's all good in my book Top.
 
November 25, 2007
Holiday Sales Climb, but Shoppers Are Spending Less
By MICHAEL BARBARO
Black Friday was big — but with a big caveat.

With stores dangling steep discounts and consumers worried about the economy, retail sales surged on the day after Thanksgiving, yet the amount of money each shopper spent fell, according to two reports released today. The reports suggest that jittery consumers are flocking to rock bottom prices and to little else — a boon for discounters like Wal-Mart and Best Buy but trouble for higher-end chains like Nordstrom and Abercrombie & Fitch that are averse to discounting.

Sales rose 8.3 percent on Friday compared with last year’s day after Thanksgiving, the biggest increase in three years, according to ShopperTrak RCT, a research firm. But shoppers did not splurge, spending an estimated $348 each over the holiday weekend, down from $360 last year, a survey conducted for the National Retail Federation found.

“American consumers are trying to outsmart the stores and wait for desperation discounts,” said Burt Flickinger, a retail consultant.

Retailers’ performance over the Thanksgiving weekend is closely watched because it accounts for roughly $40 billion, or up to 8 percent, of all holiday sales, which are expected to total $475 billion this year, according to the National Retail Federation.

Over all, retail sales growth this season is predicted to be the weakest since 2002, with spending pinched by rising energy costs, falling home prices and a tight credit market.

As expected, cost-conscious consumers favored discount chains over pricier stores over the weekend, according to the National Retail Federation survey, conducted by BIGresearch.

Of those surveyed, 55 percent said they shopped at bargain stores like Wal-Mart and Target, up from 50 percent last year. The percentage who made a purchase at regular department stores, like Macy’s and Dillard’s, fell slightly.

That shift appeared to confirm suspicions that shoppers would “trade down” this season, largely bypassing full-priced stores to save money, in a reversal from previous years when shoppers eagerly traded up to luxury brands like Nordstrom, Coach and Ralph Lauren.

Deanna Babikian, 42, had no plans to trade up on Friday, arriving at the Target in Framingham, Mass., by 6:30 a.m. to buy a 42-inch television for $798. “You have to go then,” she said. “You can’t get these kinds of deals any other time.”

Higher gasoline prices, and a reluctance to drive to stores, may be behind the big boost in Internet spending, which rose 32 percent this year from 23 percent in 2006, the retail federation found.

Bill Martin, the cofounder of ShopperTrak, said the stronger-than-expected sales on Friday should leave stores “breathing a sigh of relief.”

But why did individual spending fall, if sales rose? One explanation is that the most heavily promoted — and discounted — products this holiday season cost less than those of last year.

In electronics, for example, two best sellers on Friday were Kodak digital photo frames (for about $100 to $200) and a KitchenAid stand mixer (for $130), rather than flat-screen televisions, last year’s must-have gift.

“It takes a lot of $130 stand mixers to add up to a $1,000 high-definition TV,” said Ellen Davis, a spokeswoman for the National Retail Federation. “Even though a lot of people went shopping, the heavily discounted items were not as big as they were least year
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/25/business/26cnd-retail.html?hp=&pagewanted=print
 
Wow, I posted an article too. I guess that makes me an internets economist now. You better go on a diet fat ass, there is a new mba in town.
 
at least I had a point you bitter spinster
Better than expected sales accross the board
Strong sales
All the while the dem wanna be strategist here praying for a recession, you included.
Ain't going to happen the American economy is fine like I've been schooling you fools with for 2 yrs.:clink:
 
Topspin said:
at least I had a point you bitter spinster
Better than expected sales accross the board
Strong sales
All the while the dem wanna be strategist here praying for a recession, you included.
Ain't going to happen the American economy is fine like I've been schooling you fools with for 2 yrs.:clink:
Click to expand...

Hey Mr. Brilliant, why are the "experts" expecting about 1-2% economic growth for next year ?
 
Toppy...you do realize that we're heading into a recession, right?

The debate now is how deep it will be, not "if."

You sound so simple with threads like this; don't you read anything on this topic?
 
lorax/oncelor
about 30 to 40% of economist say so the majority say no.
Consensus growth is for between 1 & 2 percent, hardly great but not recession.
 
per my other topic... we are currently not at risk for a recession per the definition.

hint - you can argue the definition of recession tho.. lots of dems i know like to argue definitions of lots of things and change them to fit there opinions.
 
Topspin said:
at least I had a point you bitter spinster
Better than expected sales accross the board
Strong sales
All the while the dem wanna be strategist here praying for a recession, you included.
Ain't going to happen the American economy is fine like I've been schooling you fools with for 2 yrs.:clink:
Click to expand...


.6% growth when you wrote this, toppy.....
 
AND that means growth right LORI, takes two negative quarters for a recession. so we're at least 6 months away from a call which may not happen with the rate cutes.
 
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