I wish I had put money on this. Black Friday sales were disappointing:
Even after doling out discounts on electronics and clothes, retailers struggled to entice shoppers to Black Friday sales events, putting pressure on the industry as it heads into the final weeks of the holiday season.
Spending tumbled an estimated 11 percent over the weekend from a year earlier, the Washington-based National Retail Federation said yesterday. And more than 6 million shoppers who had been expected to hit stores never showed up.
My prediction for the excuse that would be made was that there were too many pre-Thanksgiving sales.
The deals don’t look much better than what you can get online. Plus, you font have to stand in line. I would predict Black Friday has peaked.
Steve
I posted a piece by Zerohedge yesterday noting this drop in sales. With tongue-in-cheek, they surmised there were explanations for this poor outcome creating a certain predictability, because (1)”a stronger economy caused shoppers to want to shop less,” (2) “they had more options of shopping which decreased their motivation”, and (3) there was some relationship made between “plunging retail sales” being tied into “plunging gasoline price.” I couldn’t follow the rationale here. But, then again, there is little that makes sense to me anymore.
@jan
In your link, you missed the last line: Goebbels approves.
Once you put on the special glasses, it all makes sense. The rose coloring has special powers. It also helps if you have the super secret decoder ring.
I blame bad weather and fear of riots. As the weather gets better heading into winter*, and as Obama and Al Sharpton improve racial relations, shopping will pick up.
* Didn’t know winter was the time for good weather? I could be an asshole and say, “Hey, I live in Florida!” Or I could be a prick and point out that every time the economy does poorly in the winter months, they point to the bad weather. This must mean that the weather in winter is supposed to be good.
Also, this puts the question to all the endless reports we’ve had since, oh, May anyway, that the economy was reaching escape velocity and was going to plow thru the stratosphere into the great beyond.
Prediction: At some point, they’ll determine that the economy HAS taken off, but that only the rich and near rich are getting any of the benefits.
Did you guys get the dry humor in Dave’s proffered explanation? Especially coming on the heels of Panglossian.
I had no idea Schuler had a sense of humor.
Right on que Monday sales come in at half of last year. The overall theme in commentary is that people are spreading out their purchases. (meaning before thanksgiving) The 4 day cumulative since Thursday is about half of last year, which leaves us with what, a week or ten days prior to thanksgiving to inspect? Haven’t seen those numbers.
We generally buy capital goods manufacturers. However, we have one company that would be a barometer on the consumer. Truly the Average Joe. If they are indicative, and they have been for several years now, don’t hold your breath for a sales surge.
Oops. That would be half of ly growth. Words matter.