Worst Christmas In Five Years

[VJW]

WAL-MART: WORST CHRISTMAS IN FIVE YEARS

"Wal-Mart Stores Inc. expects December same-store sales at its U.S. locations to show growth of 2.2%, at the low end of its previous guidance of 2%-4%, despite aggressive discounts and marketing this holiday season.

Even so, the 2.2% gain in same-store sales, that is, sales at stores open at least a year, is Wal-Mart's lowest December gain in five years."

Wall Street Journal

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[PRICEPLUS]

Well, sometimes you get the bear and sometimes it gets you!

[cercis]

Wal-mart has had a lot of bad press lately, so I guess they're reaping the harvest of that.

Of course, it seems like everyone I knew was scaling back this christmas - no money and job insecurity. They just couldn't justify adding to their cc balances for more "stuff". They bought only for their kids.

[VJW]

After Black Friday bombed, conventional wisdom said that the heaviest shopping would be the Saturday before Christmas. When that fizzled, conventional wisdom claimed the retailers would make up the difference during the after-Christmas sales. When that didn’t happen, the conventional wisdom was that it would all be made up from gift card spending.

None of it ever panned out.

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[katwoman]

Originally Posted by VJW

After Black Friday bombed, conventional wisdom said that the heaviest shopping would be the Saturday before Christmas. When that fizzled, conventional wisdom claimed the retailers would make up the difference during the after-Christmas sales. When that didn’t happen, the conventional wisdom was that it would all be made up from gift card spending.

None of it ever panned out.

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They have to say something to keep their investors from discounting or dumping the stock.

[gavinmccallister]

I wonder how this Christmas will turn out for retailers?

[sarah]

I am very confused about WalMart. My first reaction is to celebrate. My next reaction is to worry about the economy

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by gavinmccallister

I wonder how this Christmas will turn out for retailers?

I don't know about Christmas, but I see no sign that people are cutting back on shopping. We were out on Sunday and drove past one of the local malls. The parking lot was absolutely packed. My wife even commented that it looked like Christmas time.

A new shopping center opened recently near my house - Home Depot, Best Buy, Dick's, Christmas Tree Shop, Bed Bath and Beyond and Wegman's and that center is always packed.

People just can't seem to get enough shopping and spending. I think Christmas will be just fine for retailers.

[markio26]

wmt cannot expect to keep growing continuously every year at a high pace.....ppl. will shop regardless of the economy... i do think that the consumer is smarter and more selective now and is timing their buys to meet their budget goals.. in other words impulse buying is slowing. thanks for posting this..

[Gruntina]

With the much higher sales of home compared to last few years in my area, I would presume more people are trying to keep up with their home payments with less shopping. If the cost of living keeps going up and our wages are not, how do we find extra money for shopping?

[Marcymox]

I don't know what cities or markets they are analyzing for these articles, but they certainly aren't in my town!! Like another poster mentioned, our shopping centers are PACKED- if I want an empty wal-mart I need to go at some unreasonable hour like THREE in the morning to have a peaceful shopping trip with close parking. '

the malls, the grocery stores, everything seems completely like it's already christmas! I have no idea why, it's not the superbowl, it's not christmas, no major holidays coming up- just loads of people out spending a huge wad of money, and then getting in thier escalades and navigators and shlepping off someplace else to spend more money. This is mostly on the weekends, I still can find empty stores at opening on a weekday.

People ARE spending money,- I see thier overflowing carts in line. they need new people analyzing these trends.

I think it may have something to do with getting rid of layaway. Just my opinion.

[poundwise]

I don't think a couple of the previous posters realized that the original post was made in January of 06 referring to the holiday sales of 05. Therefore, for instance, it had nothing to do with layaway, etc.

I expect that Wal-Mart and other retailers will do very well this year.

whoops, nope i didn't realize. my fault