Consumers continued to buy for everyday needs, the staples, such as food, drugs, health and beauty aids. |
Consumers report that the high gasoline prices are having a negative impact on their frequency of shopping trips, which in turn affects spending. |
December's performance was mixed although we had already picked up from retailers through the holidays. |
Decent growth in income levels is helping to prop consumer spending. Home demand is holding up nicely and there's also spillover effect from that. |
Despite all the worries on the energy front, sales trends continue to be impressive and remain strong. |
Despite the fact that back-to-school shopping is in full swing, warm weather continues to hold back consumers' interest in fall apparel items. |
Despite the fact that gas prices have been creeping up since last year, our research shows that consumers have not really altered their buying of discretionary items, ... I think the effect on consumer spending has more or less been neutral. |
Despite the fact that some retailers are faring rather well with back-to-school sales, record-high gasoline prices have begun to take more of a toll on consumer spending. |
Despite the needs of the displaced residents that lived in the path of Hurricane Katrina, which helped to lift sales for basic foods and other supplies in Texas and across the South, higher energy prices are seemingly weighing on demand for nonessential goods by middle and lower income households. |
Despite the softness in spending, consumers have stepped up their shopping over the past week. |
Despite the weather-induced dip in sales compared to the same period last year, it is not clear whether it was just a shifting in demand to future shopping days or mediums such as online and catalog sales. |
During the month of January, about 40 percent of gift cards are redeemed and that is exactly what consumers began to do this past week. As a result, chain stores saw their sales rise slightly. |
During the past week seasonally hot weather pared demand for fall apparel. |
Easy comparisons due to last year's storms helped to lift the year-over-year sales pace above expectations for the week. |
Electronics was a pocket of strength. The discounting and promotional environment this past season was very much a part of the broader economic picture painted back in the late summer, when we saw rising gasoline prices. |