Shoppers bring haggling skills to the mall, Boston.com/AP. Retailers are bending their own rules this season to secure sales. Asking for a better return policy, price match, or just a lower bottom line--all have become acceptable in the right situations. This is a stark shift from corporate policy, although for many consumers, it's not much different than simply waiting for an item to go on sale.
general: December 2008 Archives
Some interesting reading this weekend from two major newspapers.
Barron's: Struggling to Survive at the Mall. Summarizes a lot of what we've been seeing this season, and reports on a wide range of brands and department stores. Since it's Barron's, each company comes with a stock price evaluation as well.
New York Times: Handful of Niche Chains Stay Alive in Retailing. The teen market is doing better than most this season, particularly at Urban Outfitters, and other retailers (like Kohl's and Aeropostale) are well-positioned to weather the recession.
U.S. consumer prices dropped by a record 1.7% in November as the economy struggled with the immediate effects of the financial crisis. Economists keep a keen eye on prices; a steady decline creates deflation, which discourages consumer spending as people wait for prices to drop. This could have very real effects on the average shopper's in-store experiences, although this writer, who paid $1 for M&Ms from a newsstand yesterday, hasn't seen it yet.
Wholesale inventories fell a substantial 1.1 percent in October, the most since late 2001 following the September 11 attacks and dot-com slowdown. Sales by wholesalers dropped a record 4.1%. This points to lower production levels in 2009 and businesses trying to realign inventories to match lowered consumer spending.
