But halloween saved the month. Traffic found its way back to the stores as people began to purchase costumes, candy, and other halloween festive decorations. If we compare October 2010's numbers to October 2009's numbers, it is easy to easy that the economic depression is lifting. Macy's Department stores sales rose 2.5% compared to the sales of October 2009. And they are not the only store. Limited Brand, which owns Victoria Secret, were 9% higher than they were this time last year.
While we are a long ways away from completely recovering from the economic crisis of 2008, these numbers show a positive outlook on future. It shows that there is hope for a strong fourth quarter and holiday season. While it is too soon to see if this will happen yet, there are signs that having a holiday increases sales for stores, and can sometimes even save a month.
By: Ariel Levin
Article used: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/political-economy/2010/11/october_retail_sales_start_wea.html
This once again illustrates exactly how dependent retailers are on large consumer movements, such as holidays. Holidays are chances for consumers to be more extravagant or frivolous than usual, and therefore, they act uncharacteristically. If they spent normally all the time, retailers would be in deep trouble. However, holidays provide the perfect break in monotony for people to feel a higher propensity to consume goods. This is really the only thing that keeps retail alive. The fact that holidays are becoming more and more commercialized is certainly helping as well. We will see what happens once Christmas comes around. If Halloween was this effective, who knows what the future holds?
ReplyDeleteCatherine Reeves