Holiday Retail Sales Plummet Despite Price-Slashing

Wall Street Journal:

Price-slashing failed to rescue a bleak holiday season for beleaguered retailers, as sales plunged across most categories on shrinking consumer spending, according to new data released Thursday.

Despite a flurry of last-minute shoppers lured by the deep discounts, total retail sales, excluding automobiles, fell over the year-earlier period by 5.5% in November and 8% in December through Christmas Eve, according to MasterCard Inc.'s SpendingPulse unit.

Read the whole story: Wall Street Journal

Comments

[lmvd3]

Went to Macy's on 12/23 to see huge sales 50% off merchandise. I immediately noticed that they had first INCREASED the original prices by about 50%! Outrageous!!! As if we are all fools! They were so obviously ripping off consumers, therefore I left immediately, and went straight to Penny's where I got fantastic bargains and filled my arms with great gifts. No more Macy's rip-offs for me; I am boycotting them as a result of unethical business practices, beginning now.

[marijam]

The banks are paying 0 for money, but they're charging 10, 15, 20, 25 percent interest and consumers can't take the interest charges off of their income tax - thanks to President Reagan and the Republicans.

[lmvd3]

Thanks to corporate GREED.

[marijam]

Retailers have marked down their "junk", the stuff that wasn't selling to begin with. The "good" stuff, the stuff that sells well all the time, they didn't put on sale. Little wonder nobody's buying. People are making due with what they've got longer and they're not buying the "junk".

[Myshkin57]

Yep. I went out to see these big sale because we needed a few things. These sales are no better than any other year. Consumers this year weren't fooled by the media hype about the sales. If they want to sell, they'll give real discounts and not these nonsense mark-up-th­en-discoun­t sales.

[lmvd3]

Went out and saw nothing much on sale. A bunch of media hype. Saw some prices increased 50% at Macy's, and then marked "50% off"! Rip off!

[bubbuh]

Why is a decline of 5.5% in November and 8% in December, year over year significant? It's signicant because retail businesses typically make 50-80% of their annual revenue in this 2 month period. This is the revenue that would have been used to pay expenses deep into next year.

[totaldisbelief]

Does anybody stop to look at the useless crap that's for sale? Do you really need all that crap?

[totaldisbelief]

Remember..­. It's only a deal if you need it.

[Montanagramma]

I just heard on CNN that retailers may ask for a bail-out. Why don't they get it? The people who pay for those bailouts have no money. So, if while making great profits in the last years, they didn't build a little financial safety net why should the taxpayers go further in debt to Japan and China to give them money. Face it, some of those businesses should fail. We are asked to reduce our lives in everyway. But when the stores feel the pinch, they run to get our tax dollars? I don't think so!! They can join the lines at the bankruptcy courts just like others of this country. No more bailouts!

[montemalone]

No credit, no shopping.
The past 7 years of spending have not been with cash.
It's been financed with Visa and HELOCs.
Now, nobody has any credit left to spend.

[panurse]

Great- maybe we the American public can re-focus on what's really important in life instead of the material trash from China

[NWBrunette]

Wonderful. Its way past time for consumerism to take its rightful place on the trash heap of history. Consumerism is nothing but wasteful spending on overpriced items of questionable quality we don't need that distract us from loving one another. Build a new economy that respects the Earth and is egalitarian and inclusive. Now is our chance to do it.

[totaldisbelief]

do you mean Capitalism?

[spinns17]

I SMELL A BAILOUT COMMING

[bluguy8]

there should be no bailout--they have ripped off consumers for years. we have overpaid for cheap crap made in China that was sold for much more than it was ever worth. Karma is a bitch . time for stores to actually learn how to buy again and stop making their own cheap stuff at high markups.

[TruthAndTheory]

I hope Wal mart suffered the most.

Do they sell even one useful item?

[Blutus]

Oh boo hoo!

An 8% decline?! Not even double figures?!

Cry me a river! Lose your house, that's 100%. Lose your job, that's 100%.

Look how trained we are, 8% decline and it's the "worst" and everybody is supposed
to panic and cut their wrists!

BIG DEAL!! Maybe we can stop selling widgets and begin rebuilding America!

[CaptainHowdy]

Yeah, I'm not so sure that an 8% decline in sales qualifies as "plummeting".

It's almost as if someone in the media wants people to panic.

Now why would that be?

[CologneCitizen]

I have to agree Blutus.

I mean, things are collapsing around you and they get excited because you refused to buy huge amounts of junk as every year before ? If finally the consumer would learn (this goes for every country) how much power he actually has, he would define a new age of spending and consuming.

[esquire07]

Good... Consumer Driven Americans need to slow the hell down and think about the mindless spending and endless consumerism.

You can bet it was a great holiday for Dick Cheeny and his buddies making a fortune from all the dead troops in the middle East.

[mjtaylor22]

gOOD RIDDANCE TO ALL THOSE RETAILERS ETC ETC ET AL.
The consumer has been holding up this economy for the last 8 year to say the least, and all we have been met with are piss poor customer service, poor products, layoffs, downsizing, underemployment, consumer fraud on all levels, even our food has been tainted, toys for our kids tainted with date rape drugs from china, and our govt does nothing all this time, great , no shopping fo you, 2 Million people lost their jobs and styill no tax payer bailoout, but they bailed oout the banks, that cause thsi mess the investment houses, baiedout, the gass guzzling auto makers, bailed out, and yet n still a 55 yr old , laid off mom of 3 she was still evicted byt Fannie Mae, or country wide or whom ever, the day befor eChristmas, Just business as usual, Right
No spending until they giving up WHOLESALE PRICES.DAM­MIT !!!!
REDEMPTION FOR THE CONSUMER