Obama's America
Posted on 10/24/2009 3:34:39 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
Online spending down as holiday season nears
Recession puts brakes on fast-paced growth of e-commerce
By Ylan Q. Mui
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Online retail's runaway growth has hit a wall as consumers have cut back on the discretionary spending that drives the industry's sales.
According to research firm comScore, e-commerce sales have been steadily declining this year, with spending not including travel dropping 2 percent in the third quarter. That has set the stage for a tough holiday season, which can account for as much as half of annual sales.
"It's not pretty at all out there," said Gian Fulgoni, chairman of comScore. "The consumer just doesn't have spending power."
But the outlook is not all gloomy. Amazon's stock shot up 27 percent on Friday after it reported blockbuster third-quarter earnings. The online retailer has focused on low prices and the popular Kindle to help drive sales, and investors and retailers are hoping that Amazon's performance is not merely an industry aberration.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Ping!
Buy a copy of Sarah’s new book. Heck, you can do it online!
I just don’t see how this holiday season will be anything but a bloodbath for retailers with 500,000+ people losing their jobs every month.
What ? This can’t be true. Obamaroid & gang say the recession is over. Isn’t everyone back to work yet? Hasn’t our homes gotten back to pre-recession values yet? Isn’t the war over? We won, right? Don’t we have cheap energy, & clean water, and everyone’s a lot more healty too, right?
Obammma will put up a website selling brown shirts and blinders
Obama's America
I hope it is; the commercialization of Christmas has long been a sticking point to me, and maybe in late December they’ll think of the birth of Jesus Christ instead of merchants’ earnings. Working or not, hopefully Christians will be able to take a day & focus on what matters. The best thing about Wal-Mart gift cards is that you can buy groceries with them; you don’t have to settle for toxic Red Chinese toys or muscle-sapping video games...
By now we have usually finished our Christmas shopping.
This year we havent bought a thing yet. Usally we hav a litle spending money, this year we havent, and we fear even more what is in the works. Trying to make House mortgage payments for your kids who are out of work , isnt such a fun thing on a retirement pay. Many Americans are facing this problem. Many more will be facing it.
Earnings season during a recession has a way of separating the best-run companies from the rest, and this quarter was no different. That dynamic was illustrated Thursday when Amazon, the web retailer, reported sparkling numbers and a strong holiday outlook just hours after eBay's lackluster Yuletide forecast. Amazon shares were trading up over 14 percent in post-close activity after the company reported that third quarter earnings jumped 68 percent from last year and its Kindle e-reader was selling like gangbusters.
This year will undoubtedly be slower than previous years, but everyone must remember it's the time of year when retailers start "poor mouthing" and talking about how pitiful their sales forecasts are for the upcoming holiday season. Happens every year towards the end of October.....
I’m in Retail. We are completely re-vamping how we ‘do’ Christmas...and I couldn’t be happier! :)
For my family members, with the exception of the grandkids, gifts this year have been and will be cash to help them fill in the gaps made for them by the economy.
I figure that most people are willing to give Obama a year to show some actual progress. He’s got three months left and not much to show for the past nine. Look for a White House media blitz in January to showcase all his “accomplishments”. By then, though, most people won’t be buying it.
You can say that again!
Our son has been out of work since June. He and his family (with kids 4,2, and one on the way) have moved in with us until he can find work. He has managed to get a couple of part time jobs but they pay nowhere near enough to cover rent or bills. As he lost his business, he is one of the "uncounted" unemployed.
It's tough out here. I don't see many "green shoots" sprouting...
I wanted the newly released Star Trek The Original Series on BluRay but Walmart has it at $59 a set and thats for just for the regular DVD format NOT the BluRay, they have been stocking less and less BluRay it seems so I just bought season 1 a little while ago on Ebay for less than $49 total.
And I needed a specific type of float battery charger for my new motorcycle I bought last month, bought it online at 1/3rd the cost at our local stores.
I think there are better deals online this season, unless its just where I live in Alaska the choices of brands are less it appears and the prices are inching higher. As long as shipping is reasonable I will buy online.
The one good thing is when you cut into your savings , it wasnt earning any interest anyway.
You may as well take it in good humor, it isnt going to get any better any time soon. I am trying to hold out until he can get a fair dollar when he has to sell as undoubtedly he will.
But Obama brought us back from the brink.
The Obama team can jig the numbers they control - but NOT retail sales numbers.
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