AP Retailers Look for Post-Holiday Bump Thursday December 27, 2:38 am ET By Anne D'Innocenzio, AP Business Writer Retailers Hope Post-Holiday Shopping Will Salvage Season; Investors Not So Sure NEW YORK (AP) -- The nation's retailers slashed prices further Wednesday in hopes that a post-Christmas shopping rush will salvage holiday sales that, so far, have fallen below even modest expectations. They're waiting in particular for legions of shoppers armed with gift cards to snap up bargains and buy new merchandise that has just hit store shelves. Merchants in past years have received a late bounce during big clearance markdowns, and they find themselves again in the position of hoping that bargain-hunting consumers will come through in the end. Gift card sales are not recorded until shoppers redeem them.Investors, however, are more pessimistic about this holiday season and the financial well-being of consumers in a challenging economic environment. Shares of most retailers fell Wednesday. "Shoppers are thinking twice about what they are buying," said Jennifer Black, president of Jennifer Black & Associates, an equity research company in Lake Oswego, Ore. "There's a feeling of worry." Black, along with other analysts, made the rounds at malls in Oregon and New Jersey, noting that even with gift cards, shoppers remained tightfisted Wednesday, focusing on bargains despite fresh offerings from merchants. "My son gave me gift cards for clothes, and I get up with the birds, so I figured I'd get the most with my money," said Susan Depetris, who was loading discounted pants and sweaters into a cart at Kohl's in Medford, Mass. She didn't plan on looking for gifts for anyone else. She had just one person on her mind while she shopped -- herself. The International Council of Shopping Centers said Wednesday that same-store sales, or sales at stores open at least a year during the November-December period, are coming in just below already slim projections for a 2.5 percent gain, though it said a post-Christmas buying splurge could erase that shortfall. That contrasts to a more upbeat assessment from its chief economist, Michael P. Niemira, who predicted following the weekend that holiday sales could at least meet forecasts. Target Corp. warned late Monday that its same-store sales might decline for December. Meanwhile a broad gauge of consumer spending released by Mastercard Advisors -- a division of the credit card company -- that includes estimates for spending by check and cash, reported Tuesday an increase of 3.6 percent from Nov. 23 to Dec. 24, the low end of expectations. That compared with a 6.6 percent gain in the year-ago period. Excluding gas purchases, holiday sales were up only 2.4 percent. |