Richard Hastings
Richard Hastings
Richard Cory Hastingsis a Canadian association football player, who has played for Inverness Caledonian Thistle, Ross County, Grazer AK, MVV Maastricht, Hamilton Academical and Brora Rangers...
eye july keeping retailers sales season spending summer surprised volatile weaker weakness
July sales were weaker than expected. Summer can be a volatile season for retailers but I am a little surprised by the weakness in apparel. I'll be keeping an eye on discretionary spending going forward.
bills change consumer expensive holiday hurt marginal primarily rather spending
Will the anticipation of more expensive bills hurt holiday sales? I don't think so. I think consumer spending will see more of a marginal change rather than a substantial change, primarily at the lower-income level.
barometer concerned consumer hot moderate pace spending start strength
To be concerned about the strength of consumer spending is wise. Wal-Mart as a barometer of consumer spending is significant. Consumer spending will start to moderate off of its hot pace in the second-half of the year.
expect fast hurt jobs number offer relief retail rise spending time toward wages
I expect this number to rise toward the end of the year. At the same time jobs and wages won't rise fast enough to offer relief to already overstretched consumers. This could hurt retail spending in the second-half.
consumer durable goods higher interest items margin profit rate sales spending ticket
If spending on durable goods slows down, it could also weaken sales of consumer electronics, especially on big ticket items that have a higher profit margin but are interest rate sensitive.
area consumer consumers credit distress eye far households majority number spending trouble
One area of trouble in consumer spending is households and individuals with weakening credit profiles. So far it's not yet a majority of households but the number of consumers in credit distress is on the increase. That's something to keep an eye on,
building consumers factors four gasoline goods grown hurting levels months prices spending wages weaker
Weaker spending on seasonal goods has been building up for four months now. The two factors hurting consumers particularly at the low- and middle-income levels are that wages have not grown and gasoline prices could go even higher.
believe consumer continue effects food garden gas held higher lawn measures prices sales spending
I continue to believe that the effects of higher gas prices on the consumer are overestimated. Most of the important measures of discretionary spending such as furniture, lawn and garden and food sales held up nicely.
halloween trends spending
Halloween will be a slam-dunk for merchants despite the weakening consumer spending trends.
attract great income looking lower might spending struggling
It's great if you attract lower income shoppers looking for low prices, but what if those shoppers who were really struggling between 2000 and 2003 now have jobs? They might be spending more and looking for different merchandise...maybe something Wal-Mart doesn't have,
christmas clearance deep holiday january month
January is not just clearance month anymore. It's winter-season full-price selling, because Christmas and holiday merchandising is really promotional. These days, that's when you see the really deep discounts.
heavy seeing
We're already seeing heavy markdowns particularly in apparel,
christmas eventually excess far holidays inventory people retailers until wait
Retailers know that many people will wait until after Christmas for the big purchases. So they don't want to go too far into the holidays with excess inventory that they eventually will heavily discount.
christmas delivery orders ready retailers richest winter
Retailers have very big orders from vendors ready for delivery right before and right after Christmas. They want to look really, really good. That's when they come out with the richest displays of winter merchandise, and it culminates with Valentine's Day.