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Let’s Make A Deal: Disturbing Trend In Retail Sales

When I grew up in the sixties, the holidays were magical and captured in the 1963 hit, “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year.”higbees
Its the most wonderful time of the year
With the kids jingle belling and everyone telling you be of good cheer
Its the most wonderful time of the year

That sense of wonder was immortalized in the classic holiday movie, A Christmas Story as Ralphie and his brother window shop at Higbees department store in Cleveland, Ohio.

Where was the “big deal” then? Where was the rush to discount? Weren’t people struggling in the early 60′s?

According to www.recession.org, “The Early 1960s recession was yet another chapter in the modern economic cycle that has shown its ugly side so many times to the U.S. This recession was characterized by, once again, astronomically high unemployment rates, incredibly high inflation, and a bad Gross National Product rating.”

Yet wonder still lived at Christmas.  Childhood fantasies were embraced. It was about finding the Continue reading Let’s Make A Deal: Disturbing Trend In Retail Sales »

Most Overused Words At NRF's Big Show

Four of  the most over-used words/phrases by presenters at the National Retail Federation’s BIG show in New York this past week:
silo1) Silos.  Apparently every department is now referred to as a “silo” that needs to be broken down because they are all so isolated.  No wonder so many big retailers are in trouble.
2) Customer Centric.  This term has been around awhile.  It is a buzz word for capturing and analyzing all the data you can from your customers; demographics, where they are in the life cycle, shopping basket, et al. From that they can more accurately predict buying behaviors- though these assumptions have not been reevaluated since September.
kool-aid3) Yes, I drank the Kool-aid.  It made several presenters sound a bit delusional. I mean, didn’t the ones who “drank the Kool-aid” at Jonestown all die?
4) Fundamental shift.  Tracy Mullin NRF’s CEO mentioned it twice, so did Wal-Mart’s Lee Scott along with a couple others. That a “fundamental shift” in consumer behavior during the holidays meant it was all about price as a lifestyle choice.  Please people – it’s been three months, not three years.  Retail sales excluding autos and gas dropped a bit over 1%.  Let’s not jump to conclusions.

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