[mintdollar]

Retail Sales Plummet
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.

Shoppers haggle with a vendor Thursday outside of luxury retailers on New York ‘ s Fifth Avenue. New data showed luxury sales took a beating in ‘ one of the worst holiday sales seasons on record. ‘

When gasoline sales are excluded, the fall in overall retail sales is more modest: a 2.5% drop in November and a 4% decline in December. A 40% drop in gasoline prices over the year-earlier period contributed to the sharp decline in total sales.

But considering individual sectors, “This will go down as the one of the worst holiday sales seasons on record,” said Mary Delk, a director in the retail practice at consulting firm Deloitte LLP. “Retailers went from ‘Ho-ho’ to ‘Uh-oh’ to ‘Oh-no.’”
http://mintdollar.com/retail-sales-plummet/[url=http://]Web Page Name[/url]

[mos6507]

I'm surprised people shopped as much as they did, really. As bad as this may be, wait until the next couple of quarters. Retailers can't sustain themselves on holiday sales alone.

[RedStateGreen]

I refuse to shop during the holidays. The orgy of mercantilism at this time is nasty, crass, and un-Christian. Ugh.

Let them all eat their cheap trinkets.

[TWilliam]

The orgy of mercantilism at this time is nasty, crass, and un-Christian. Ugh.

Apparently the Christians disagree. According to Monster.com (a major online job search site), Family Christian Stores, one of many retailers catering specifically to Christians, is

dedicated solely to the $4.3 billion Christian retailing market.

[Ludi]

People were shopping up a storm down here.

[RedStateGreen]

The orgy of mercantilism at this time is nasty, crass, and un-Christian. Ugh.

Apparently the Christians disagree. According to Monster.com (a major online job search site), Family Christian Stores, one of many retailers catering specifically to Christians, is

dedicated solely to the $4.3 billion Christian retailing market.

Guess it depends on your definitions ...

[MarkJ]

My brother was stuck in a traffic gridlock doing his last minute Christmas shopping.

Crossgates Traffic Was In Gridlock


We went Christmas shopping during a snow storm thinking traffic would be lower, but the stores and parking lots were packed.

We made most of our Christmas purchases online.

[ki11ercane]

Our stores were as busy as they were in 2007. However I think this is the last year of that. Here in Canada the Wave of Economical Craptacularism is only starting to hit our shores. I think by next Christmas it's not going to be a good scene.

Also, a lot of my customers waited until we had our sales to purchase. A week before our stores might has well been closed. Could have saved tonnes in salaries.

[Revi]

My sister thinks that this is the last hurrah. Everyone knows it's going to be a really bad year next year, so they are spending some money during the holiday season.

I think the fact that gas is down helped. I usually take out $60 from the bank. I used to use $20 for gas, $20 for food and $20 was for spending money. This summer that extra $20 went in the tank, but now it's back to where the third twenty is spendable again.

I'll bet that's how most people operate.

We are all going to rein in our spending in the new year.

[Ferretlover]

Silver lining to the retail cloud: Now would be a good time to get some more prep items!

[TheDude]

Driving still seems to be an issue with shoppers, though: Amazon Claims ‘Best Ever’ Christmas (Whatever That Means)

On Amazon’s peak day, Dec. 15, customers ordered a record 6.3 million items, or almost 73 items each second, the company said. Last year, the peak day was Dec. 10, when customers ordered 5.4 million items.

Amazon’s press release has all sorts of entertaining factoids: the weight of all GPS devices it sold from Black Friday through December equals the combined weight of 151 Mini Coopers; it sold enough “Breaking Dawn” books that, if stacked end to end, they would reach the summit of Mount Everest eight times; and its top sellers in electronics included a 52-inch Samsung LCD HDTV and the eight-gigabyte Apple iPod Touch.

Lest you conclude that brick-and-mortar will go the way of buggy whips:

But the numbers do little to tell us how good (or bad) Amazon’s season really was. The company didn’t disclose whether shoppers bought more or fewer high-priced items than in previous years or whether discounts ate into profit margins. It didn’t disclose revenue or even the total volume of products it shipped throughout the holiday season.

What’s more, as consumers do more and more of their shopping online, where Amazon is the leading retailer, a “record” season at Amazon is hardly surprising. Amazon has claimed that its holidays were the “best ever” or “busiest ever” every year since at least 2002.

[3aidlillahi]

I refuse to shop during the holidays. The orgy of mercantilism at this time is nasty, crass, and un-[s]Christian[/s] -Christ-like. Ugh.

Happy to help.

Silver lining to the retail cloud: Now would be a good time to get some more prep items!

That's what I always thought. If prices are lower, might as well get what you need now.

[RedStateGreen]

I refuse to shop during the holidays. The orgy of mercantilism at this time is nasty, crass, and un-[s]Christian[/s] -Christ-like. Ugh.

Happy to help.

Thank you!

[TreebeardsUncle]

Folks are still very tied to going out and shopping in general especially over the holidays. 2 years from now, things should be back to what they have been in the 20's and 50's through 00's.
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[ki11ercane]

Folks are still very tied to going out and shopping in general especially over the holidays. 2 years from now, things should be back to what they have been in the 20's and 50's through 00's.

So this means within 24 months people will be shopping like idiots again? A lot of movies from the 50's portray the department stores and city streets flooded with people buying gifts, not empty streets and crappy retail sales.

I see food, clothes, and all things required for shelter and heat as being on the top Christmas list items in 2010 and beyond. This economic slump isn't going to reverse itself in 24 months. 240 yes, not 24. Retail shopping for Christmas is an invention of the 20th century. It didn't exist before 1905. Coca Cola and Norman Rockwell inspired Santa bearing commercial gifts, not religion. Christmas or "the holidays" have skewed itself into a retail buying orgy that pinnacles material spending on useless sh1t for the year. It's the reason why so many of us are caught in the debt trap to begin with.

[TWilliam]

I see food, clothes, and all things required for shelter and heat as being on the top Christmas list items in 2010 and beyond.

Just think... coal in your stocking may soon be a welcome gift, rather than a sad lament...