The Cincinnati Enquirer is reporting what you probably already know: shopper’s are winning this season’s budget battle. As Stepfanie Romine reports,
“Many analysts and retailers are already expecting a lackluster December as cost-conscious consumers hold out for deeper discounts closer to Christmas, especially with the holiday falling on a Tuesday. According to the National Retail Federation, the industry’s largest trade group, consumers had completed only 36.4 percent of shopping by the end of November.”
This means consumers are in control, and waiting for last minute deals and helpful services like extended hours are the rewards of their demands.
“Macy’s is taking no chances on losing procrastinating shoppers in New York City. The Cincinnati-based department store behemoth said that beginning at 7 a.m. Dec. 21, seven of its stores in the New York metropolitan area, including its flagship store in Manhattan, won’t close until 6 p.m., even on Christmas Eve.
JC Penney Co., including the stores in the local area, also plans to expand its hours in the final days before Christmas. Beginning Friday, most JC Penney stores started staying open until midnight. That will continue through Dec. 23, , said Barbara Keeling, general manager of the JC Penney store at Florence Mall. On Christmas Eve, JC Penney will close at 6 p.m.
Marshal Cohen, a retail analyst with The NPD Group market research firm, said it’s a buyers’ market heading into the holiday home stretch – stores will need markdowns and specials.
“(Consumers) can get anything, anywhere, at any price,” Cohen said. “I’ve got choices of price and brand. We’re just clearly seeing a whole new dynamic: The consumer is really in the driver’s seat.”
For the full scoop read below– Amy Ko, Senior Editor
Retailers bump up lures to shoppers
BY STEPFANIE ROMINE | [email protected]
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With 10 days left until Christmas, many people still haven’t finished their shopping. And many say they’re not impressed with what they’re finding in stores.
But they’ll eventually have to buy something, experts say, and retailers are trying to make sure that happens with them – offering extended store hours, elaborate promotions and deep discounts in line with the Black Friday deals that started the season.
Shoppers in Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky turned out in droves for eye-popping discounts on the day after Thanksgiving, contributing to a better-than-expected 1.2 percent increase in nationwide retail sales for November, according to the U.S. Commerce Department.
But store traffic has slowed significantly in recent weeks.
According to data released Wednesday by ShopperTrak RCT, store traffic for the week that ended Dec. 8 fell 12.3 percent compared with a year earlier.
That follows a 4.7 percent drop in shoppers visiting stores for the week ending Dec. 1 when compared with a year earlier, according to Chicago-based ShopperTrak, which tracks sales at more than 50,000 U.S. retail locations.
High gas prices and tight budgets are factors as well as a dearth of must-have gifts. There are few hot items such as the hard-to-find Nintendo Wii and the iPhone.
“It used to be that everyone had something that everyone wanted,” said Trina Pringle of Burlington while shopping for a birthday present earlier this week at Florence Mall. “Now we just go around and look.”
Many analysts and retailers are already expecting a lackluster December as cost-conscious consumers hold out for deeper discounts closer to Christmas, especially with the holiday falling on a Tuesday.
According to the National Retail Federation, the industry’s largest trade group, consumers had completed only 36.4 percent of shopping by the end of November.
“I think we’ll see a wave of more subdued spending until people realize that they have to buy something,” said Mandy Putnam, a vice president at TNS Retail Forward consultancy.
Macy’s is taking no chances on losing procrastinating shoppers in New York City.
The Cincinnati-based department store behemoth said that beginning at 7 a.m. Dec. 21, seven of its stores in the New York metropolitan area, including its flagship store in Manhattan, won’t close until 6 p.m., even on Christmas Eve.
Macy’s spokesman Jim Sluzewski said the move had been planned and wasn’t a last-minute attempt to drum up sales. He said the initiative will not be rolled out to Macy’s stores in Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky.
“We found that in some of these urban stores, which have a 24-hour population, this was a very attractive concept,” Sluzewski said.
JC Penney Co., including the stores in the local area, also plans to expand its hours in the final days before Christmas.
Beginning Friday, most JC Penney stores started staying open until midnight. That will continue through Dec. 23, , said Barbara Keeling, general manager of the JC Penney store at Florence Mall. On Christmas Eve, JC Penney will close at 6 p.m.
BUYERS HAVE ADVANTAGE
Marshal Cohen, a retail analyst with The NPD Group market research firm, said it’s a buyers’ market heading into the holiday home stretch – stores will need markdowns and specials.
“(Consumers) can get anything, anywhere, at any price,” Cohen said. “I’ve got choices of price and brand. We’re just clearly seeing a whole new dynamic: The consumer is really in the driver’s seat.”
Pringle, a loyal Wal-Mart shopper, hasn’t finished much of her shopping. She did find her dad a watch at Sears, which was offering an extra 10 percent off a 25 percent reduction. She and 16-year-old daughter, Kayla, also saw a new line of Nike boots at the Finish Line.
“They’re $49.50,” she said. “I think that’s a good deal – for Nikes, new ones.”
A deal’s no good if the weather outside is frightful, and the threat of snow could endanger what Keeling said is a usually a busy Saturday.
Three days before Christmas in 2004, a snow and ice storm crippled the region, with level-three snow emergencies that put last-minute shoppers out of luck. Forecasts call for moderate to heavy snow in the region this weekend.
