By: Furniture World Magazine\u00c2\u00a0
\nHoliday Sales Will Rise, But Challenges Lie Ahead: Clear Thinking Group Predicts 4.5% Increase vs. 6+% Last Year
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\nThis holiday season will bring some good tidings for merchants, but retail sales are forecast to increase by just 4.5% over 2012 levels, according to Clear Thinking Group, LLC, a retailing\/consumer products and industrial manufacturing consultancy headquartered here.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153While we will still see growth, this holiday season will not be as robust as last year, when we saw sales gains of more than 6% over figures for the same period in 2004,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Lee A. Diercks, a partner and managing director in the firm. Diercks attributed the change in part to oil prices, which are approximately 20% to 25% higher than they were during the same period in 2012. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153These prices continue to hit consumers in the wallet at the gas pumps, as well as at home with higher heating costs,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he noted.<\/p>\n
Housing market slowdowns are also sparking a tendency among some consumers to curb holiday spending, Diercks observed, as the value of homes has fallen in many parts of the country. Other issues seen having an impact at the retail sales counter include higher interest rates on credit card debt and variable mortgages, as well as steep price declines on certain electronic items. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The price of flat screen TV\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s, laptop computers, cell phones, digital cameras, home entertainment systems, DVD players and the like have fallen pretty far, requiring retailers to sell significantly more units to even match last year\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s sales levels,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Diercks explained.<\/p>\n
Clear Thinking Group believes shoppers will purchase fewer big-ticket items this year and instead focus on buying less expensive gifts in larger quantities. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We see Christmas stockings being full, but with smaller, less pricey gifts and more of those than in the past,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Diercks noted, pointing out that the lack of a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153hot\u00e2\u20ac\u009d category or item this season should also fuel the popularity of such modest gifts. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153In 2012, for example, many consumers went crazy for the i-Pod,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153However, there is no comparable \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcmust-buy\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 in 2013.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
While holiday sales will increase overall, the firm foresees particularly favorable results for retailers who offer \u00e2\u20ac\u0153great gift values\u00e2\u20ac\u009d combined with exemplary customer service and convenience. In terms of merchandise categories, the firm sees fashion footwear, fashion accessories, fragrances, personal care items, books and gift cards as ranking among the \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcwinning categories,\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 while home improvement products, home furnishings, high-end electronics, sporting goods and toys should see weakness.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Home and electronics retailers, such as Home Depot, Lowe\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s, Bombay Company, Pier 1, and Best Buy will have a tougher time this holiday season compared to last year,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Diercks said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153In the apparel market, we see department stores performing better than specialty apparel stores. Target and Wal-Mart will experience holiday sales increases, but we expect their growth rates to fall short of the respective 4.7% and 1.9% same-store gains posted in December 2012.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Further, a recent informal survey of retailers conducted by the firm demonstrates that merchants are indeed taking a cautious approach to holiday sales, instead concentrating on efforts to control their inventory levels. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Given this pattern,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Diercks advised, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153consumers would do best to shop early, as some items may sell out prior to the last days of the shopping season.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
About Clear Thinking Group<\/p>\n
Clear Thinking Group provides a wide range of strategic consulting services to retail companies, consumer product manufacturers\/distributors and industrial companies. The national advisory organization specializes in assisting small- to mid-sized companies during times of growth, opportunity, strategic change, acquisition, and crisis. For further information, visit the firm\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s website at www.clearthinkinggrp.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By: Furniture World Magazine\u00c2\u00a0 Holiday Sales Will Rise, But Challenges Lie Ahead: Clear Thinking Group Predicts 4.5% Increase vs. 6+% Last Year<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2654","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-furniture-world-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/indonesia-furniture.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2654","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/indonesia-furniture.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/indonesia-furniture.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indonesia-furniture.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indonesia-furniture.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2654"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/indonesia-furniture.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2654\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/indonesia-furniture.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2654"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indonesia-furniture.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2654"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indonesia-furniture.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2654"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}