Word: retailing
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Expect to see heavy price-discounting among most retailers this holiday season, but not as aggressive as last year's stunning markdowns. "On average you might see 30% to 50% off, but last year was 75% to 80% off," says Tiffany Co, director of retail at Fitch Ratings. "I don't think we're going to see the kind of panic discounting we saw last year," concurs Richard Jaffe, managing director at Stifel Nicolaus & Co., although he notes that promotions are starting earlier...
...this year's Black Friday began early, with many retailers pushing holiday ads while pumpkins and Halloween costumes were still on store shelves. Wal-Mart shot the first volley when it launched a price war last month with online retail giant Amazon.com over books. Walmart slashed the price on 10 of the most anticipated hardcover books to $10 a pop for shoppers who preordered the new releases through its website. When Amazon matched the price a few hours later, Walmart trimmed the price to $9 apiece and then $8.99. Rival Target, not to be left out, has since matched this...
...really equipped to be landlords." Lenders are sitting on nearly half a million repossessed houses nationwide, but getting rid of them quickly, even if that means taking a hit on price, seems to be the preferred response. A recent presentation by the head of Chase's retail-financial-services division showed that the company's servicing portfolio went from having about 52,000 repossessed homes in September 2008 to some 30,000 in September 2009. Over that period, the average price at which the firm sold houses from that stock dropped from...
...much is actually spent? In the U.S., about $65 billion a year is spent on holiday gifts. There's been this giant [holiday season] bump in retail sales in the U.S. going as far back as statistics are available, back to the 1920s and '30s. In fact, as a share of the size of the economy, the spending has gotten smaller over time. Our fathers' and grandfathers' Christmases were a bigger deal than ours...
...course, the idea that shoplifting is a victimless crime is easier to believe when the prey involved is a faceless business - or better yet, an international retail chain. In reality, however, shoplifting comes back to bite all consumers in the billfold in the same way that higher plane tickets do when airlines face increasing gas prices. Anytime businesses have to absorb a cost, they pass it along to their clients in some form or another. Retailers make up the money lost to shoplifting by marking up the prices of their goods. According to the Center for Retail Research, this ended...