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Retailers, consumers and prices
Check Out Line: A little less love this Valentine’s Day
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Check out retail executives’ worries coming true.
At the National Retail Federation’s annual convention earlier this month, retail executives and analysts said they were worried there would be no big event to get consumers back into the stores and get them shopping until the back-to-school season.
Still recovering from the holiday spending and watching jobs evaporate by the day, it appears consumers don’t intend to jump back into shopping for Valentine’s Day, the first main holiday since Christmas.
The NRF said its 2009 Valentine’s Day Consumer Intentions and Actions survey found that consumers plan to spend an average $102.50 on Valentine’s gifts and merchandise – down from last year’s $122.98 per person.
”Valentine’s Day this year will be more about small tokens of affection rather than extravagant purchases,” said Phil Rist, executive vice president at BIGresearch, which conducted the survey.
The survey found that 91 percent of people said they will spend the most on their spouse — $67.22, with other family members, such as children, getting about one-fifth of their budget, or $20.95.
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(Photo: Reuters)
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Those amounts are unbelievably precise. I think providing ranges (such as “78% will spend between $50 and $75 on their spouse) would provide much more information. I’d bet cash money that not a single person surveyed answered a number mentioned in the article.