Retailers Dreaming of Green this Christmas
Retailers are looking for hope in retail sales going into the last stretch of the Christmas buying season. Trend growth in retail sales is on the decline in America. After showing some strength in mid-2014, the ICSC-Goldman Sachs Retail Chain Store Sales Index has reverted to its trend rates of growth.
Seven Years Later: Planned Gift Spending Nears 2007 Levels
“Shoppers around the country say they are planning to spend an average of $861 for gifts this holiday season, up from $801 last year according to the 30th annual survey on holiday spending from the American Research Group, Inc. Planned gift spending will slightly exceed spending in 2007, a first since the recession.
In telephone interviews with a random sample of 1,100 adults nationwide conducted November 17 through 20, 2014 (see methodology for details), the average planned spending of $861 for 2014 is up nearly 8% from average planned spending in the 2013 survey.” — American Research Group
Russian Shopping Spree
The spending spree in Russia is not Christmas related. Russians are being forced to deal with the realities of inflation. Alec Luhn writes at Politico:
Natasha, who said she works in the finance industry but declined to provide her last name, was buying a 27-inch iMac at M.video even though her family already had a good computer, she said. “I wouldn’t buy it otherwise, but my rubles are losing their value every day, so I’m trying to solve this problem,” she said.
Another customer, Denis, who also declined to give his last name, said that because of the unstable exchange rate this past week he had “bought a lot of stuff I had been planning to buy three months from now,” including a new PlayStation.