Retailers May Cut Prices Earlier During Holiday Shopping Season
October 14, 2011, 5:38 PM EDTBy Ksenia Galouchko and Tom Keene
Oct. 14 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. retailers are expected to cut prices earlier this holiday season to lure shoppers amid high unemployment and cautious consumer spending, according to Dana Telsey, founder and analyst at Telsey Advisory Group.
“The theme of holiday 2011 is going to be called planned promotion,” Telsey said today in a radio interview with “Bloomberg Surveillance” with Tom Keene. “Since we have seen sales numbers that are volatile, retailers will want to get their head start early.”
Retailers remain cautious amid stock market volatility and the 9.1 percent unemployment rate. Consumer spending slowed in August as incomes dropped for the first time in almost two years. Purchases rose 0.2 percent after a 0.7 percent increase the prior month, Commerce Department figures showed Sept. 30.
Telsey predicts holiday retail sales to rise 4 percent this year, “a little bit better” than the forecast of a 3 percent gain by ShopperTrak, a Chicago-based consulting firm.
Retail sales rose in September by the most in seven months, as purchases grew 1.1 percent, exceeding the median forecast of 85 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News, Commerce Department data showed today in Washington.
--Editors: James Callan, Robin Ajello
To contact the reporter on this story: Ksenia Galouchko in New York at kgalouchko1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Robin Ajello at rajello@bloomberg.net
