Results tagged “holidayshopping”

Holidays sales data has been grim, as the International Council of Shopping Centers expects "sales at established stores" to fall 1.5-2% this November and December ("the weakest holiday season since at least 1969" according to the AP) and, per credit card data, retail sales are down 5.5-8% versus last year. CNBC reports, "It took massive discounts, longer store hours and promotional giveaways to even get shoppers to the mall this season. Still that last minute rush could not save stores from double-digit sales declines across virtually every category." And while online sales did well, with consumers looking for bargains, they were still down 2.3%.

Retailers were hoping for a last-minute holiday shopping push from consumers during the last weekend before Christmas. The AP noticed "shoppers swarmed racks offering 65 percent off women's clothing" at Macy's on 34th Street—not to mention other deep discounts around the store. But some shoppers, like N.C. resident Dee Dobbins, were a little more grim, "This is going to be a poor Christmas." The International Council of Shopping Centers believes that stores will be posting their "worst performance for the holidays since at least 1969, when it began tracking such data," but that's not stopping some Macy's stores—including 34th Street in Manhattan, Queens Center in Rego Park, and Staten Island locations— from being open 24 hours/day through Christmas Eve.

According to research firm ShoperTrak, Black Friday sales increase 3% over last year. Still, ShopperTrak says that's the smallest gain for "Black Friday" (the day after Thanksgiving) sales in three years--2007 Black Friday sales were 8.3% higher than in 2006. And the data is also tempered by the fact that many retailers offered deeply discounted items, which cuts into their profitability. On the online sales side, Amazon and eBay say their sales jumped on Friday--Amazon says topsellers include the iPod Touch, Canon Powershot camera, and Nintendo Wii console whereas the Nintendo Wii was the most searched-for item on eBay--but both are forecasting weaker holiday sales. Additionally, with Thanksgiving falling late this year, there are five fewer shopping days this holiday season than last year.

Stores were packed with post-Christmas shoppers, as retailers marked down their products in hopes of boosting holidays sales. So far, holiday period sales are up 3.6%, which is the "lower end" of expectations according to MasterCard Advisors.

In the middle of the month, Macy's announced it would be keeping eight locations in New York and New Jersey open from 7AM on December 21th until December 24th at 6PM - for 83 hours straight! Macy's chairman and CEO Ron Klein had explained, "We are giving our customers extra time to shop when it’s convenient for them," and said that the success of the Queens Center mall location staying open last year encouraged Macy's to expand the extra-holiday-hours shopping this year.