American Shoppers Leave Shopping to the Last Minute

Reports on Wednesday suggested that 2011's holiday shopping season was split into a a two-week surge preceding Christmas, then a lull, then a hot Back Friday. According to the Associated Press, the lull proves that shoppers have learned to wait for the inevitable discounts that come year after year. The article states that, “Last-minute shoppers shoppers gave retailers a 4.5 percent increase in revenue at stores open at least a year in the week before Christmas compared with the same week last year, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers-Goldman Sachs Weekly Chain Store Sales Index.” All of which seems to make perfect sense. We all now know when the sales are and when they end. We know that, around the holidays, we can wait a week to spend our Christmas money and get twice as much for our cash. In the cold light of day, it is almost ridiculous for anyone to be buying anything around the holiday season when there is not a sale on. AP said that, “The increase is good news for the economy, because it showed shoppers were willing and able to fund a holiday splurge. Consumer spending, including major items such as health care, accounts for 70 percent of the economy. Still, plenty of shoppers are pinched for cash in the slow economic recovery, and were seeking the best deals. Stores have trained even shoppers who are primed to spend to look for a discount.” The report goes on to state that, as would be expected, gift buyers gathered momentum as the season went on. No surprises there. “The store revenue figure rose 0.9 percent last week from the week before, building on a 3.4 percent increase the week before that.” "The downs and ups were much more accentuated," said Michael P. Niemira, chief economist at the trade group, to AP. "It just shows how cautious the consumer is. Consumers are bargain hunters more today than ever before.” According to the article, the post-Black Friday lull was tougher than usual for retailers. “The two weeks after Thanksgiving weekend showed the biggest percentage sales decline since 2000. Then, during the final two weeks before Christmas, sales surged again, by the highest rate since 2005, Niemira said.” A forthcoming source of joy from retailers is, perhaps surprisingly, gift cards. “Stores are expected to benefit when shoppers come back to spend their gift cards, because people often spend more than the cards' value. In addition, gift card sales are only recorded when shoppers redeem them. People have more money on their cards to spend. According to an ICSC-Goldman Sachs survey of shoppers conducted Sunday, 18 percent of holiday spending went toward gift cards, up from 14.6 percent last year.” We will all know a little more on January 5 when stores like Target TGT and Macy's M will announce their figures.