Shop Talk
Retailers, consumers and prices
Check Out Line: The dreaded 10 percent
Check out the grim unemployment numbers from the U.S. Labor Department on Friday, a day after dozens of retail chains reported lackluster October sales.
U.S. employers cut a deeper-than-expected 190,000 jobs in October, driving the jobless rate to 10.2 percent, the highest in more than 26 years.
Analysts polled by Reuters had expected the monthly unemployment rate to edge up to 9.9 percent from 9.8 percent in September.
While job losses have been mounting for months, some analysts and economists say 10 percent unemployment could deal a new psychological blow to U.S. consumers who might previously have felt that the economy was beginning to stabilize.
from Raw Japan:
Blu-ray rental shelves still look bare
Some of my friends have bought Blu-ray disc players recently and brag about the breath-taking picture quality on their big flat TVs. Sales of Blu-ray recorders have outstripped those of regular DVD recorders by almost seven to three in recent months in Japan, research firm GfK Marketing Services Japan says.
But some Blu-ray users complain that movie rental stores don't have much of a selection in the format. Tsutaya, Japan's largest movie rental chain and a unit of Culture Convenience Club, says some of its stores carry as many as 300 Blu-ray titles, but that's barely a fraction of the average 40,000 DVD titles available.
Wal-Mart wants a bite of Twilight
Twilight was a big box office hit.
Now Wal-Mart hopes the teen vampire sensation will amp up its sales.
The Twilight movie DVD is slated for nationwide release March 21.
Instead of simply selling the DVD in its electronics department, Wal-Mart is opening “Twilight Shops” within each of its 3,500 U.S. discount stores starting in mid-March.
Wal-Mart will be selling the Twilight DVD movie and CD soundtrack along with Twilight clothes, posters, jewelry, bags and key chains.
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