Britt Beemer
Britt Beemer
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Overall, the moderate-priced stores such as J.C. Penney, Sears and Wal-Mart had good traffic levels. We think luxury sales were probably flat this past weekend because more people said they decided to go away on vacation before Christmas this year than last year. So this could have impacted spending on other high-end items.
afford destroy low
With their low margins, they can't afford to have unprofitable stores. It could destroy the profitability of the chain.
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With nothing hot to buy in decorations this Christmas, many stores started selling two weeks earlier than ever before, beginning in mid-September. Many stores skipped Thanksgiving altogether and went from Halloween to Christmas.
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Retailers had a sales plan for Christmas, stayed with it and then benefited from a very strong January without giving up margins.
companies definitely fighting lower profits retailers today
Retailers are fighting lower profits than in years past. The industry's is definitely more competitive today and companies have to do what they can to not take unnecessary markdowns.
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Retailers are caught in a 'Catch-22' situation. Their costs, such as transportation costs, are going up and this is not going to change in the short term. Meanwhile, their consumers are going to be extremely deal focused.
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Our research on holiday gift returns shows that it's only three percent of Americans who are real jerks and they indulge in consumer fraud and return abuse. The rest of us have to deal with the consequences.
charged customer measures retailers soon struggle surprised tougher
I won't be surprised if a day comes very soon when the customer is charged $5 for every return. On the one hand, tougher measures frustrate the consumer. But retailers also don't want to struggle with unnecessary discounts.
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I think retailers will hold prices up to 40 percent off before Christmas and then go even deeper in January to clear inventory. No doubt, heavy discounts help sales but they hurt profits. And retailers, more than ever, know that they have to answer to Wall Street and not Main Street.
broader cannot focused
I think that Wal-Mart has come to the realization that it cannot be focused on low-prices alone. They need a broader offering.
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I think they've got to be aggressive and to make Martha more accessible initially, ... America has got to know that she's not the same defiant Martha she was before. That's the challenge. If she can be humble through all of this, I think America will forgive her.
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Starting in the late 1980s, employees and prospective employees in the retail sector stopped looking at retail as a career opportunity. They look at it as a temporary stopover until something better comes along. When this happens, everybody loses -- employees, customers, stores, etc.
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Some of the this may be attributed to the removal of the quotas and some to the strength of retail sales.
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J.C. Penney will probably be the most promotional store this year, similar to last year, and they'll probably have a good Christmas because of it.