People leave a JCPenney store with packages less than an hour after the store opened at 5:30 in the morning for after-Christmas sales Friday Dec. 26, 2008.
The last week of December represents about 14 percent of Christmas sales, 30 percent to 50 percent of a retailer's annual total sales, has been less than jolly for most retailers.
Stores were hoping the discounts would entice shoppers to redeem gift cards and use cash from returning unwanted gifts to buy something new. Job cuts, portfolio losses and other economic woes have convinced consumers to cut back on their spending.
Meanwhile, strong winter storms during the holiday season kept some would-be shoppers at home. More consumers appeared to do their shopping online, particularly in the last two weeks of the season when storms snowed shoppers in.
No comments:
Post a Comment