Shop Talk
Retailers, consumers and prices
This year, a Christmas of blue jeans, not Blu-rays
As we mentioned on Shop Talk this morning, the National Retail Federation expects total holiday sales this year to fall 1 percent.
The trade group held a conference call later in the day to add details about their forecast. Here is what NRF spokeswoman Ellen Davis said about the forces that will shape the upcoming holiday shopping season:
Unemployment:
“The golden ticket this year for the holiday season is going to be unemployment. With the unemployment rate at about 10 percent, we know that a lot of Americans will be pulling back on the holiday season because they have to, because they don’t have a job or because someone in their family doesn’t have a job.
“But the unemployment picture really goes far beyond that 10 percent because anyone who knows someone who is out of a job, looking for work or is concerned about losing their job is going to be pulling back. You don’t want to be the guy who drives up in a brand new BMW if your neighbor just got laid off.”
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Resident Shop Talk Expert
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