Depression Christmas Shopping
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A small display of snow-topped villages and ornaments sits nestled between the mattress and hardware departments at the Sears store in Manassas. Next week, Toys R Us stores in the area are inviting children to decorate Christmas cards and slurp away on candy canes while their parents shop Christmas sales.
Yes, it's July, but some stores have decided that to get ahead of the poor economy they need to start now on the holiday shopping season.
Nick White, a consultant in the Gerson Lehrman Group network, called the strategy a good bet for the struggling retail industry.
"No one wants to be hit with Christmas songs and nutcrackers when they walk into the front door of stores," White said.
But, he added, customers are realizing they'll be spending less for Christmas this year and are planning early exactly what to purchase. About 40 percent of holiday shoppers have made up their mind about big ticket purchases in early fall, he said.
Usually, retailers don't start pushing holiday shopping until early November, said Ellen Davis, vice president of the National Retail Federation. But now retailers are trying to avoid what happened last year when holiday sales declined for the first time since the NRF began tracking them in the early 1990s.
"Retailers had far more inventory than they needed, so they were forced to discount heavily and in some cases give items away with a purchase," Davis said.
As early as January, Davis said, retailers were planning their special promotions and adjusting their inventory levels. The push for layaway will continue this year, she said.
July 16, 2009
Copyright © 2009 Washington Post
