Word: holidaying
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Most forecasts share Cohen's pessimistic outlook, predicting that sales growth this holiday season will be anywhere from 3.3% to 4.5%, down as much as 1.6 percentage points from last year's comparable 4.9% sales growth. But Cohen thinks the consumer apathy already seen this holiday season is due more to a lack of must-have items than fears of a slowing economy. "The number one reason this is a hesitation holiday is the absence of newness and excitement," says Cohen. "There is nothing we really have to have...
...them last year. Likewise, online shopping continues to rise, with forecasts predicting between 18 and 21% growth. Both those trends mean customers are not hanging around stores and the mall as long, and Cohen says that should translate into fewer impulse buys, which have traditionally made up 26% of holiday purchases...
...Retailers love to blame the weather for their woes, but it's true that this fall's record-breaking warm temperatures have led to sluggish fall and winter clothing sales. They have been so slow, in fact, that many retailers have already started their holiday price-cutting to get rid of the excess sweaters and coats. Due to tepid results the last two Christmas seasons, Wal-mart is determined to get a jump on sales. They reduced prices on toys in September and then slashed them again on 15,000 additional items in October, a 20% increase over last year...
...brave the stores the day after Thanksgiving for the traditional early-bird specials may not be in a spending mood. Americans are facing higher food, gas and energy prices this year, expenses that make up close to 20% of the typical consumer budget, according to Bain & Company's retail holiday report. And many people are feeling the pinch from the continuing credit crunch, including higher mortgage costs and the depreciation in home values. "Consumers have the highest debt they have ever had with 24 months of negative savings," says Howard Davidowitz, chairman of Davidowitz & Associates Inc., a national retail-consulting...
...Indeed, over the past decade home equity loans have helped finance a lot of big-ticket holiday purchases. And with that resource increasingly hard to tap, middle and lower-income shoppers probably will not spend as much on discretionary purchases. Forty-four percent of consumers polled in WSL Strategic Retail's How America Shops survey said they expect to spend less this holiday season. "This year customers won't trade up," says Cohen. "If I am a Target shopper I will stay there. Last year I was a Wal-mart shopper going to Bloomingdales because I felt good...