Filed under: Forecasts, Bad news, Products and services, Consumer experience, Wal-Mart (WMT), Market matters, Economic data, Recession
In case you haven’t noticed lately, times are tough for the American economy, and this volatility is more than likely going to carry over into the upcoming holiday shopping season, according to the Wall Street Journal (subscription required).
In an article today, the WSJ discusses the probability of a grim shopping season, reporting that economists are predicting that retailers are apt to see their lowest sales volumes for the past 17 years. These dark forecasts come from both research and consulting firms Deloitte LLP and TNS Retail Forward Inc., but the scary part is that these predictions were made before the most recent economic troubles, and the harsh reality of what lies ahead for retailers could prove to be even worse than these current predictions.
Let’s take a second look at the major factors that are going to contribute to a weak holiday shopping season (allowed the list could be made much longer, but let’s just highlight the main factors for now):
- High fuel prices, which have fallen over the past month but are still running at historically high levels
- Higher unemployment
- Rising food prices
- Tough housing market
- The credit crunch
Continue reading Retailers facing a tough upcoming holiday season
Entries (RSS)