Michael Niemira
Michael Niemira
backdrop beginning holiday lots november remains
There was lots and lots of discounting this holiday season. From the beginning of November onward, it was very promotional and remains a backdrop for the season.
demand drove easter finally items kinder mother nature past turned
As Mother Nature turned kinder this past week, demand for Easter merchandise and Spring-related items finally drove sales.
industry performance
It's a decent-to-moderate performance for the industry as a whole.
open season
Is it enough to say this season could be more than OK? That's still an open question.
black caused days friday industry longer numbers people robust sales shopping slightly soft wait weaker weekend year
Additionally, there are two more shopping days this year than last, which may have caused soft Black Friday weekend sales as people wait longer to shop. Nevertheless, after Friday's robust performance, these numbers are slightly weaker than industry analysts would have expected.
driven holiday largely promotions provide retailers season start strength strong
The strength was largely driven by promotions and did not provide as strong of a start to the holiday season as some retailers would have liked.
clearly concerns consumer dispel economic gas goes growth impact increases performance positive price results says strong surprised
The strong May performance goes a long way to dispel concerns about the impact of gas price increases on consumer spending, ... I am surprised that the positive results were so widespread. It says 'Gee, the economic growth is clearly countering some of these other drags.'
consumers helped holiday late lift
Procrastinating consumers and a late Hanukkah (December 25) helped to lift the holiday season's performance.
cumulative effect higher pennies penny shock top week
Now there's a shock. It's not just a penny this week and two pennies higher the week before. And the shock comes on top of the cumulative effect of all those pennies over all those weeks.
broader costs decent doubt economy financial growth happens later markets negatives profits remains summer time whether work
No doubt the financial markets are anticipating that something could change. Whether that happens this summer or later remains to be seen, ... There are some broader negatives in the economy right now but the they will take a long time to work through. For now, we can still get decent growth in profits even as costs rise.
came late met modest phase
Phase one, at least, met very modest expectations. It came late and it was uneven.
brought favorable holiday hurt impact isolated last later memorial people shift stores weather weekend year
We thought the shift in the Memorial Day weekend this year to about a week later than last year could hurt holiday sales. That was only an isolated case. I think favorable weather probably had more of an impact that brought people out to stores to shop.
certainly completed holiday households percent season shopping
With only 26 percent of households having completed their holiday shopping . . . this holiday season will certainly come down to the wire.
bit gain holiday message momentum move numbers overall positive pricing side stronger suspect trends
I suspect that a little bit of the gain is attributed to stronger pricing power, but overall the trends are very positive for retailers. The message from these numbers is that momentum is on the retailers' side as we move into the holiday season.