As potential shoppers flocked to the theaters, chain-store sales were a little less robust. |
As summer-like weather warmed up the South and very mild weather extended as far north as Illinois over the last week, consumers got the shopping bug. |
As the 'traditional' holiday selling season got underway on Friday, consumers headed to those retailers who provided promotions and discounts. |
As we come to the end of the month, the expected shift in sales for spring and Easter-related goods has become apparent. Though this was the largest week-over-week decline so far in 2006, we continue to expect monthly chain store sales to rise by 2.5 percent to 3.0 percent for March, on a year-over-year basis. |
As we look toward August, ICSC continues to expect the overall outlook to remain positive as additional states begin to offer their sales-tax holidays, which will continue to help spur customer traffic over the coming weeks, |
As we look toward August, ICSC continues to expect the overall outlook to remain positive as additional states begin to offer their sales-tax holidays, which will continue to help spur customer traffic over the coming weeks. |
Basically, the consumer will hang in there. Unless there's some kind of a major problem, the consumer tends to be more passive and will continue to spend if credit is available. |
Black Friday is not always considered to be a particularly good predictor for the rest of the season, as factors like weather, discounting patterns, inventory, and general economic conditions come into play, |
Black Friday is not always considered to be a particularly good predictor for the rest of the season, as factors like weather, discounting patterns, inventory, and general economic conditions come into play. |
But the underlying economy is still growing. It has slowed. The question is whether we can get by this period of increased price pressure. |
Can you raise the question of whether the retail industry is finally on the mend? Given the picture that's developing here, tentatively at least you can say, yeah. Certainly we can make more upbeat comments on the holiday season. |
Clearly everyone was hurt by the weather and store traffic declined sharply. But retailers can hope to recover this weekend, and from the one extra shopping day this year. |
Clearly the effects are sizable. |
Consumer confidence doesn't always move with consumer spending. Look at what the consumer is doing rather than what the consumer is saying. Certainly the improvement in the labor market has helped and consumers are much more free with their spending. |
Consumer spending has remained relatively robust into 2006. |