Posted on 12/25/2012 4:22:09 PM PST by Steelers6
The annual holiday shop-a-thon drew to a muted close for many retailers, according to preliminary data, reflecting what some experts said was the slowest growth in spending since the 2008 recession.
For the eight weeks from Oct. 28 through Christmas Eve, retail sales for the holidays rose just 0.7% from the year before, according to MasterCard Inc.'s SpendingPulse unit.
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A man with shopping bags sleeps in Macy's in New York on Monday. . After falling 5.5% in 2008, holiday sales rebounded strongly in 2009 and 2010, and rose about 2% last year, according to the company's data, which are based on sales activity in the MasterCard payments network and estimates for all other forms of payment, including cash and checks. The figures exclude restaurants and sales of automobiles, groceries and gasoline.
This year, "it's a lost season," said Michael McNamara, Spending Pulse's vice president of research and analysis. "Sales and volume are about the same as last year, but the growth was marginal."
He and other analysts said a steep sales decline in the mid-Atlantic states that were walloped by superstorm Sandy dragged down the overall tally.
Retail consulting firm Customer Growth Partners said 2012 looks like the worst holiday-shopping season since 2009. Sales rose roughly 2.8%, after a 5.8% jump in 2011, according to its president, Craig Johnson.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
They know next year to not expect a thing from me, especially if my job at the local military base gets cut due to the impending fiscal cliff, and it just might, it just might. In 30-45 days, I could be among the unemployed.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2012/12/25/holiday-retail-sales-growth/1791075/ Another article about the same issue. Blaming Hurricane Sandy, Election, Sandy Hook, Fiscal Cliff, how about many people know they are going to get walloped in 2013.
That’s what I am in need of...ammo. That’s a great present he gave you!
I’ll be unemployed no later than the end of next month. I wish you well. Contractor employee here as well.
That is picture is just so wrong...............
That’s about like me, I spent much less this year than when Bush was President.
I shop here:
My wife pretty much organizes Christmas. We seem to have dropped the annual stocking-stuffing, and we’ve cut way back on presents. We have about 20 or 30 of our family over on Christmas Eve and Christmas day. She asked our grownup kids to bring wine and stuff with them when they come, because we can’t afford to buy all the food and drink. The New York contingent brought food goodies up with them, too.
One of our son-in-laws raised and killed the turkey.
My wife and I pretty much give each other stuff that we need and would buy anyway, so there isn’t really much extra spending. She replaced a couple of pairs of pants that I had worn out, and I got her a bunch of jams and jellies, olive oil, tea, and stuff like that, which she would buy if I didn’t.
The smaller grandchildren still get a lot of toys and books, but not as much as they used to.
Hubby and I didn’t buy much for ourselves. I don’t spend the money like we were doing for collectibles nor does hubby. We each got a small bonus from our jobs. Part went into savings. We gave part to one children’s foundation; the rest we gave out in cash to family members who had been out of work due to lost jobs (plants closing) or they couldn’t work due to health concerns vs going to get them clothes, home decorative gifts etc. I save more now. Hubby bought a few things earlier in the year that he wanted as extras so he is happy. When he’s happy, I’m happy, as he says of me.
I’ve sold online for ten years. Sales have steadily descended since Obama’s first election. Sporadic ups and down during the campaign season, followed by almost a return to normal after the first debate and positively rebounding that last weekend before the election.
The first week after the election; d-e-a-d. Been pretty thin ever since. In fact walk-in sales exceeded online sales for the first time since I started selling online in 2001.
I think a lot of people were expecting a power change in DC and the overturn of Obamacare. When that didn’t happen, they shut their wallets.
Just my observation from a main street in flyover country.
How can this be when the gummit is at full employment? Must not be printing enough unemployment checks.
Merry Christmas
No, nor did I imply that.
Get a lump of coal in your stocking today?
Broken window fallacy. We see the reconstruction. We don’t see the college tuition they could have paid, the home improvements they would have made, emergency funds used during a lull in employment now consumed during the hurricane, the money not invested in retirement plans because it went to rebuild ...
Well of course. I’m weary of hearing how supposedly inept Obama is. He is succeeding quite well, alas, in “transforming America” into an impoverished third or 4th world tin-pot dictatorship.
No, I was simply poking fun at our resident protectionist. Sorry that you misunderstood. The “lower holiday sales—>bring back American jobs” thing simply cracked me up, that’s all.
People thougth Mitt was going to win
Whale, less selebreit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uzae_SqbmDE
ABC radio news yesterday implied that the numbers were poor because everyone was waiting until Christmas eve, and then made the report all about why Americans would choose to do that.
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