Michael Niemira
Michael Niemira
certainly completed holiday households percent season shopping
With only 26 percent of households having completed their holiday shopping . . . this holiday season will certainly come down to the wire.
consumers headed holiday promotions provided retailers season selling
As the 'traditional' holiday selling season got underway on Friday, consumers headed to those retailers who provided promotions and discounts.
open season
Is it enough to say this season could be more than OK? That's still an open question.
driven holiday largely promotions provide retailers season start strength strong
The strength was largely driven by promotions and did not provide as strong of a start to the holiday season as some retailers would have liked.
bit consumer last lower planning question retailers season spend weekend
Retailers have been planning for that lower traffic. The question now is, will the consumer in the last weekend of the season spend a little bit more or not?
capital focus less meaningful ought pick spending worry
I think there's less worry on the consumer, and our focus ought to be more: 'Does business, capital spending pick up?'... That's much more meaningful going forward.
energy needed retailers
Retailers needed to be promotional because of the energy story. We didn't really see any strengthening this season, but we didn't really see any weakening either.
days redemption
Redemption days are going to be very important this year.
bit gain holiday message momentum move numbers overall positive pricing side stronger suspect trends
I suspect that a little bit of the gain is attributed to stronger pricing power, but overall the trends are very positive for retailers. The message from these numbers is that momentum is on the retailers' side as we move into the holiday season.
goods industry initially pick problem retailers sales selling spread start
I think initially the industry will try to keep the discounts more narrowly focused. The problem is, if sales don't pick up, retailers will start to spread out discounts to those goods not selling as well.
although categories consumers december furniture held home last looking month november power purchasing retail sales seems shifted
Looking at November and December together, it seems that retail sales held up pretty well during the holidays, although last month consumers shifted their purchasing power to other categories such as furniture and home goods.
brought favorable holiday hurt impact isolated last later memorial people shift stores weather weekend year
We thought the shift in the Memorial Day weekend this year to about a week later than last year could hurt holiday sales. That was only an isolated case. I think favorable weather probably had more of an impact that brought people out to stores to shop.
consumer continue credit hang major passive spend tends unless
Basically, the consumer will hang in there. Unless there's some kind of a major problem, the consumer tends to be more passive and will continue to spend if credit is available.
exactly report since talking
What this report said is exactly what I've been talking about since December.