Word: retailer
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Kids won't be the only miserable people during these waning days of summer, when the first day of school lurks like a dour detention officer. The retailers selling students back-to-school clothing, supplies and gadgets will be pretty sad souls too. According the National Retail Federation, the average family with K-12 students will spend $548.72 on school merchandise, a 7.7% decline from 2008. Britt Beemer, founder and chairman of America's Research Group, a retail consulting firm, predicts spending will drop from 8.5% to 12.5% this year, compared with a 5% fall last year...
Apparel isn't the only thing that will take a hit. Back-to-school shoppers plan to buy less of the basic stuff that students really need. The National Retail Federation forecasts that spending on notebooks, folders, backpacks and lunch boxes will fall 16% this year. Analysts predict that electronic items like personal computers will also see a sales decline. "We expect that it's going to be a disappointing season," says Ashok Kumar, tech analyst at Collins Stewart, an advisory firm. Kumar points out that life cycles of desktop computers are stretching from four years to as much...
...course, bad news for retailers is usually good news for consumers, and back-to-school shoppers should expect sweet deals designed to get them in stores. Retailers are still desperate to reverse their fortunes in a down economy. However, consumers shouldn't be as giddy as they were, say, six months ago, when stores were running 70% clearance sales to shed their excess holiday inventory. Stores have wised up a bit and cut inventory levels to match the slack in demand. So while retailers may offer lean discounts, we're beyond the slash-and-burn era. "Consumers are going...
...Netflix a helpful reference source for my never-ending entertainment education. (B-movie serials! BBC miniseries! Bollywood musicals!) But I have misgivings about the service's usefulness, especially compared with that of a real, well-stocked video store, and about the possibly harmful effect that Netflix and other online retail outfits may have on American society...
...buying a car or shopping in the streets of Morocco? In this recession, if you're not bargaining for everything everywhere, you're needlessly draining your wallet. According to the consulting firm America's Research Group, in October, 56% of consumers said they had recently tried to negotiate at retail outlets other than car dealerships. Of those hagglers, 50% got deals. When the company repeated the survey in May, 72% of consumers said they had tried to haggle, and a stunning 80% were successful. "What you can do today is unbelievable," says Herb Cohen, an expert dealmaker and the author...