All that a week ago was neatly put out there. Today Mother Nature took all of it. |
As long as people can find the right merchandise, have a job and borrow a little bit, they are going to go shopping. Overall, the holiday season was good. Retailers who had it all nailed down were the winners. |
Being a public company ain't fun. Retailers are fleeing for the private universe, because they speak a different language than [Wall Street] analysts. There's a dynamic volatility that retailers are comfortable with, and that really tests their patience when they deal with the urge toward smoothness and predictability that analysts want. There are a lot more people in private investment banking who understand your language. |
But higher costs were enough to hit operating income in the quarter, which grew only 7 percent, compared to a 7.4 growth rate for the comparable nine months. Despite these issues, the quarter held up very well and the holiday quarter should hold up nicely, |
But, what's Wal-Mart's assortment and customer experience compared to Best Buy? That's an important deciding factor for consumers. |
China could choose to retaliate against yesterday's announcement by hiking up prices on a key export to the U.S. or suspending purchase of certain commodities from the U.S, |
Consumers are benefiting from a combination of tax stimulus, new products, good apparel fashions and compelling prices. |
Consumers have a way of pulling it together for the holidays. |
Consumers have a way of pulling it together for the holidays. We could see weakness in apparel and footwear sales but electronics, entertainment products and gift cards could do very well in the fourth quarter. |
Electronics is certainly carving a big chunk of money out of the pockets of shoppers, ... Back-to-school is increasingly about how cool is your phone, or how new and cool is your notebook -- that $1,350 notebook -- and students are judging each other by their gizmos at least as much as by their clothing. |
Electronics is certainly carving a big chunk of money out of the pockets of shoppers. Back-to-school is increasingly about how cool is your phone, or how new and cool is your notebook -- that $1,350 notebook -- and students are judging each other by their gizmos at least as much as by their clothing. |
For a company doing about $19?$20 billion in sales, this is not a big float. |
Gift cards are like proprietary currency issued by a retailer. The intention is to get a potentially new consumer to come in and trade in that currency and try new merchandise. We're seeing retailers across the spectrum doing as much as possible to promote them. |
Halloween this year falls on a Friday. That should be helpful for retailers because the party carries into the weekend. |
Halloween will be a slam-dunk for merchants despite the weakening consumer spending trends. |