Kurt Barnard
Kurt Barnard
consumers forget found items operators store talking
We found out, from talking to consumers and store operators all over the country, that low-dollar items went very fast. Forget about high-end items.
consumers customers evoking exciting finding granted instead looking mistake problem products retailers selling stores taking terrible unusual
A terrible problem for retailers is that most stores are evoking yawns from consumers, instead of excitement. Retailers just can't keep making the mistake of taking customers for granted by selling ho-hum kind of merchandise. Consumers are looking for unusual and exciting products and they're not finding them.
martha needs people products retail sales selling suffer terminal
Retail sales of Martha Stewart products won't suffer in a terminal way because right now Kmart needs Martha more than Martha needs Kmart. Her products are selling well because people really like them.
appeal buy chair customers demand desire evoke exactly gadgets granted image kinds lost massage mind people products reason sharper themselves
Sharper Image products also evoke the desire in customers to buy them. Granted that a $1,800 massage chair may not appeal to someone who just lost their job, but one reason that these kinds of high-end gadgets are in demand is exactly because some people want to pamper themselves and take their mind away from that kind of reality.
appealing circumstance difficult easier far favorable last mix months product quite reviewing seen several store trying
So far I think he has done quite well under very difficult and trying circumstances, ... He's making the store more appealing and easier to shop, and has been reviewing the product mix for the last several months now and we have seen some very favorable shopper response.
act clearly demand left magnitude mark particular product store suddenly tells
The magnitude of the demand tells the retailer how to act and what to do, ... If a product is hot, clearly there's not going to be a markdown. But if demand suddenly slackens and there's still a lot of merchandise left in the store on that particular day, they will mark it down.
act clearly demand left magnitude mark particular product store suddenly tells
The magnitude of the demand tells the retailer how to act and what to do. If a product is hot, clearly there's not going to be a markdown. But if demand suddenly slackens and there's still a lot of merchandise left in the store on that particular day, they will mark it down.
blizzard major malls presidents serious shut since stores weekend
The blizzard was a serious setback for retailers, especially since the Presidents Day weekend is a major day for sales. Most of the malls and independent stores were shut in the Northeast.
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February is a testing month for spring, and the results have not been spectacular, ... There seems to be a sense of foreboding that while spring is likely to be a smidgen better than we have seen in past months, it is not going to be a barn-burner.
anytime asking bombarded buying decent good head hear income jobs laid listen means number people question radio voice
Americans are being bombarded with announcements of layoffs. Anytime you listen to the radio it's always 3,000 laid off here, 500 there, ... That means a lot of people who have decent jobs and good income hear that little voice in the back of their head asking the question 'could my number be up next?' They're buying what they need, but they don't buy frivolously.
brutal guess hope
They (retailers) don't know. All they can do is hope and guess more than anything else. It's a brutal, brutal problem,
extent regardless wonderful
Rebates are wonderful to the extent that they are executed, regardless of the deficit.
available buy candy known less money past quite represent savings
If you stash money away in a savings account, then there's less available to buy things in a store, from candy to cars. This is not quite the conventional retrenchment we've known from past recessions, but it may represent a kind of wishy-washy stagnation.
consumer formed function jobs labor might present retailing spending states united word
Retailing and consumer spending are a function of a four-letter word -- jobs. And there are no jobs being formed in the United States at the present time. We are in an unfortunate labor climate, one that might be called not at all propitious for retail spending.